About Bob Burridge

I've taught Science, Bible, Math, Computer Programming and served 25 years as Pastor of Grace Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Pinellas Park, Florida. I'm now Executive Director of the ministry of the Genevan Institute for Reformed Studies

Father, Forgive Them

While Jesus was being crucified on the cross he spoke several times. What he said is often referred to as the “Seven Words of the Cross”.

These sayings need to be studied with care. Each saying seems to be independent of the others. There is no immediate context or comments to help us determine the flow of thought. Yet they should not be studied as isolated sayings. This would invite dangerous speculation and open the way to heresy and harmful principles by which we should live.

Though they stand alone, they still have a rich context in the broader record of the inspired Scriptures. By comparing them with other clear statements in God’s word we can properly understand what Jesus meant in each of these last sayings

The first of these seven sayings is found in Luke 23:34a “And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (my own translation)

Jesus Said, “Father forgive them,
for they do not know what they are doing.”

Several questions obviously come to mind. Who are those for whom he is asking forgiveness? Why should they be forgiven? Was their ignorance an excuse for what they were doing?

A few ancient manuscripts omit this verse.
Two early Alexandrian manuscripts, about five scattered later texts, and about five later minor translations leave this saying out of the text. Some speculate that the verse was left out because some thought it meant that all present were being forgiven simply because of their ignorance. That understanding would contradict other clear statements in the Bible.

The rest of the ancient manuscripts include this saying. It is found in very old and widely distributed manuscripts. It is included in the main translations (including the Vulgate, early Italian, etc.), the early Bible guides written at that time, and the ancient commentators with just one exception.

When more carefully examined the conflict with other passages of Scripture disappears. There is no need to remove this saying from the Gospel of Luke.

Jesus asked the Father to administer forgiveness.
The Son is our intercessor to the Father. This is made very clear in the New Testament. In John 17 Jesus prays his high priestly prayer which is a clear example of his office as mediator between God and his people. In 1 Titus 2:5 Paul wrote, “For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus”

From the cross Jesus asked the Father to administer “forgiveness”. The Greek word translated as “forgive” here is aphi-aemi (ἀφίημι). The same word was used by Jesus on other occasions.

Luke 11:4, “And forgive us our sins, For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one.”

Luke 17:3-4, “Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him.”

Jesus was asking the Father to dismiss the guilt of sin for those to whom he directed his concern.

But for whom does he ask forgiveness?
Several suggestions have been made:
– Forgive the Roman soldiers who were only obeying orders.
– Forgive the Sanhedrin who thought Jesus was a dangerous blasphemer.
– Forgive the crowd that called for his death being intimidated by the Sanhedrin.
– Forgive apostate Israel which had no concept of the spiritual meaning of Scripture.
– Forgive the elect in the crowd not yet regenerated by saving grace.
– Forgive all of humanity since the lost among them had not understood the gospel.

To answer that we will need more information.

For the moment, overlooking the things we don’t know clearly, these words of Jesus teach us that he has full divine authority to call for forgiveness. It reminds us that the Father is the one who administers this forgiveness. The Son takes the position of intercessor for his people.

Those for whom he prayed were morally ignorant.

“for they do not know what they are doing”

A primary question needs to be considered before we can understand what Jesus meant. What connection does ignorance have with forgiveness?

It is clear that there was ignorance.
The perfectly innocent Lord of Glory, the Creator, was being tortured to death by his creatures. Paul’s later comment in 1 Corinthians 2:8 puts it clearly, “which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.”

Those who called for his death, and who carried out the act, were ignorantly fulfilling what the prophets indicated would take place.

Acts 3:14-17, “But you denied the Holy One and the Just, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses. And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. Yet now, brethren, I know that you did it in ignorance, as did also your rulers.”

Acts 13:27, “For those who dwell in Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they did not know Him, nor even the voices of the Prophets which are read every Sabbath, have fulfilled them in condemning Him.”

They were ignorantly killing the Righteous One, the Prince of Life. They clearly missed the depth of what was happening that day.

Clearly, ignorance is not a reason for forgiveness.
The larger context of the teachings of Jesus shows that forgiveness is always based upon true and humble repentance. Repentance is always based upon God’s promise which is revealed by grace alone to undeserving and ignorant hearts. The basis for forgiveness is always the completed work of Christ in his death on the cross.

If even one person could ever be forgiven on the basis of his ignorance, then there would be a way of salvation other than faith in Christ’s death and resurrection. That is ruled out definitively. The Bible teaches only one way a person is forgiven for the guilt of his sins. It is by trusting in the work of Christ.

Ephesians 2:8, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;”

Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no one comes to the Father except through me. ” He also said in John 8:24 “Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”

The Apostle Peter said in Acts 4:12, “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

In John 3:36 John the baptizer said, “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”

Paul wrote in Galatians 3:26, “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.”

So then what does “for they do not know what they are doing” mean?

It shows the necessity of forgiveness and intercession.
All mankind is lost in sin and morally blinded by its effects. Jesus must ask the Father’s forgiveness on their behalf because they could not even know the depth of what they were doing. They were crucifying the Lord of glory, fulfilling the prophets, and killing the Righteous One, the Prince of Life. Yet at the time they believed they were doing a good thing.

Romans 3:11, “There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God.”

1 Corinthians 2:14, “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

Putting all this together it helps us identify
those for whom Jesus prayed the Father to forgive.

All are lost in sin, and doomed to remain there if it was not for the intercession of the Messiah who satisfied God’s justice in their place.

Those present had condemned him, jeered him, and called for his death. They were crucifying him, and did not recognize the Son of Man. But, among them were the elect of the Father. It was for the elect that he prayed. Nothing else would be consistent with what the rest of Scripture teaches us.

The elect are the only ones for whom Jesus could have offered this prayer.
1. The intercession of Jesus has boundaries.
His prayer in John 17 was limited to those given to him by the Father.

John 17:8-9, “For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me. I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours.”

2. The atonement made by Jesus has boundaries.
The atonement must be limited or else all humans are saved and none will be cast into the fires of eternal punishment. The Bible denies that. One of the two ways of limiting the atonement must be accepted.

Some imagine that the atonement is limited in its effectiveness. For them it failed to accomplish what God wanted it to accomplish. The man-centered view says that God lets us humans decide about our own salvation. It imagines that it’s our choice that determines what God can do. That makes us created people to be Sovereign King over God. But if the choice was ours no one would be saved. No one understands or seeks the God of Scripture (Romans 3:11).

The other view is that Christ’s atonement is limited in its design. Since God cannot fail in what he determines to do (Psalm 115:3), he must not have determined to save all humans, but only some. This is clearly taught all through the Bible. It’s in the teachings of Moses, David, Jesus, and the Apostles. Jesus came to save his people from their sin.

Matthew 1:21, “And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.” Jesus came to save his sheep, and he succeeded.

John 10:14-15 says, “I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.”

These ideas are brought together in Isaiah 53:12, “… He poured out His soul unto death, And He was numbered with the transgressors, And He bore the sin of many, And made intercession for the transgressors.” The death of Jesus between two convicts, and his representing all the elect as sinners, is clearly in mind here.

But who were these transgressors in Isaiah 53:12? The context shows it was those whose sins he bore. Jesus saw his death that way. In Matthew 26:28 he said, “For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” He didn’t pray for or die for nameless masses of possible or potential benefactors. He represented those specifically for whom he succeeds in saving, the elect of all the ages.

Jesus didn’t ask that they be forgiven because they were ignorant. It was on the basis of his atonement for those the Father gave to him that the Father would bring these same ones out of their ignorance to God’s truth, and bring them to repentance and therefore receive forgiveness.

In what way was this prayer of Jesus on the Cross answered?
It was answered by the salvation of the elect among those who stood there around the cross. It was immediately fulfilled for the repentance of the thief on one of the other crosses (Luke 23:43), and probably for the Centurion who said in Matthew 27:54, “Truly this was the Son of God!”

His prayer to the Father continued to be fulfilled in the weeks and months after his death. There were 3,000 who came to trust in him at Pentecost. Many thousands more came to repentance and saving faith throughout the book of Acts, even many of the priests (Acts 6:7). Throughout the ages the ignorant and lost are brought in. It continues today, and on to the end of this age when all the elect will have been saved.

Those who are ignorant of the wickedness and offense of their inheritance and of their own deeds, even those who were there crucifying him, have hope in the prayer of the Savior that they will be forgiven not upon the basis of their knowledge, certainly not because of their ignorance, but on the basis of his death for them.

The unbelievers and the hypocritical church at that time also benefited because God withheld Jerusalem’s destruction about 40 years as the gospel spread throughout the Jewish community. He held back that judgment while his elect were brought into the church.

When we sin, we should be confident
in the efficacy of Christ’s work.

It’s not by our knowledge, understanding, or intentions that we are forgiven. It is by the intercession and atonement of our Savior.

When we wonder how our sins can be ever forgiven, when we worry that God will not answer our prayers of repentance, we must remember the work of Jesus as our intercessor. He knows full well that all his sheep have had their sins paid for. He is the one who paid the price, and who who pleads for them.

Note: Bible quotations are from the New King James Version unless otherwise noted.

Worship Music Beyond Only the Psalms

A question asked recently in our Thursday discussion time was about the exclusive use of Psalms in worship.

Should we only sing the inspired Psalms in worship?

Some background might help. In reaction against worship music that promoted Roman Catholic doctrine, many early Reformers sang only the Psalms. At Geneva Calvin’s followers produced the Anglo-Genevan Psalter for use by the English speaking churches.

In time, other hymns were written, translated, and edited to satisfy the concerns of the Reformed churches for biblical accuracy in the lyrics beyond only the Psalms. Some continued to sing the Psalms exclusively. They believed that only those inspired songs should be used in worship. That difference of opinion continues today.

In 1946-1947 an Orthodox Presbyterian Church study committee defended the inclusion of songs beyond only the Psalms. A minority report (by Dr. John Murray) defended exclusive Psalm singing. Exclusive Psalmody is permitted in that denomination, in the Presbyterian Church in America, and in a few other Reformed groups, but it’s not required.

I suggest 7 principles that question the exclusive Psalmody view.

First it should be made clear that the singing of the Psalms is very important and is often neglected in churches today. Those who don’t sing them exclusively should strive to use them more than many do. The following points should be taken in the limited sense of showing that good Biblical hymns are proper and helpful for convocational worship (the times when the Elders call the church together for worship as a congregation).

1. There is no direct prescription in the Bible that tells us to use only the Psalms as worship song lyrics.

2. The expression of God’s truth and praise in worship is not limited to the inspired words of Scripture. Pastors are not limited to only using inspired words in their sermons. Historic creeds do not just quote inspired verses. The same scholarship should go into hymn writing. All worship music should be based upon the inspired Scriptures just as a sermon, creed, or confession of faith should be. Worship songs can be like biblical sermons or confessions set to music.

Sadly, many human-composed songs for worship are designed primarily for emotional stimulation aside from the response of the redeemed to God’s truths and promises. These base their appeal upon sentimentality rather than upon the revealed glories of God and his amazing grace. Some of these poorly written hymn lyrics could be consistently sung by heretical churches or non-christian religions since they do not focus upon the God made known in the Bible.

3. The Psalms only present Christ in figures, not in fulfillment. They do not include the full revelation of the Gospel. Post-Apostolic Era hymns include worship in the fulfillment of the promises in Christ.

4. New Testament Scriptures are also infallibly inspired as are the other portions of the Old Testament. These other texts often underlie the lyrics of good hymns. To limit worship lyrics to only the Psalms neglects the beautiful expressions of truth and promise God has placed in other books of his inspired word.

5. Translations of the Psalms into English are not infallibly inspired. They are often very non-literal, not unlike many hymns which are based upon God’s word while not directly using the same wording or sentence structures. To be fully “infallibly inspired” the Psalms should be sung in the original Hebrew text. To fit the meter of music and English grammar the Psalms must be modified. The translations and metrical arrangements are as much the work of uninspired humans as are many good songs for worship which are based upon other portions of the Bible.

6. Not all Psalms were written for the occasion of convocational worship. Some were written in other very specific historic situations, yet they appear in Psalter publications. While it is good to use any portion of God’s word in worship providing it is placed in the proper context of redemptive history, it raises questions about the implied principle that the Psalms were all directly prescribed by God to be used in convocational worship. That was not the original use of every Psalm. By example, Bible passages from other books of Scripture could likewise be used by congregations gathered to worship God.

7. Worship songs in Scripture are not limited to the Psalms. There are several New Testament examples of non-Psalm songs used in the context of acceptable worship.

Mary responded to God’s promised blessing with the Magnificat which is recorded in Luke 1:46-55. Zechariah responded with his Benedictus in Luke 1:68-79. The Angels presented the Gloria in Excelsis in Luke 2:14. Simeon responded to God’s revealed blessing in the Nunc Dimittis of Luke 2:29-32. The “new song” sung in worship in heaven as recorded in Revelation 5:8-14 (:9), 14:1-5 (:3) was not directly quoted from the Psalms. [The names of the New Testament songs cited are taken from the first words in the Latin translations.]

We don’t know if there was a musical element in these New Testament examples of outpourings of worship, and they are not presented in congregational settings. The same is true of several of the Psalms of the Old Testament. Yet the New Testament lyrics are offered as worship and recorded as examples for us in our worship of God.

The Scriptures clearly teach that song
is a proper element of convocational worship.

A “song” is primarily lyrics. The words are set to a melody. The arrangement of syllables and accents produce a meter or rhythm. To present them musically requires some type of musical arrangement which may be a blend of voices or the use of musical instruments. In our era harmonies are often added to supplement the melody.

The Hebrew words for “song” in Scripture were words already in use before the “inspired” songs were written. It was evidently an already accepted literary form. The instruments were also ones that existed at that time. Today we can only make educated guesses about the sounds and tuning of those instruments.

God instituted song in worship in the time of King David. The occasion was the return of the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. (1 Chronicles 15 and 16). To correct Israel’s past disobedience in the treatment of the Ark, they brought it back to Jerusalem in a manner prescribed by God and therefore pleasing to him.

1 Chronicles 15:16, And the children of the Levites bore the ark of God on their shoulders, by its poles, as Moses had commanded according to the word of the LORD. Then David spoke to the leaders of the Levites to appoint their brethren to be the singers accompanied by instruments of music, stringed instruments, harps, and cymbals, by raising the voice with resounding joy.

Those presenting the music before the people were all in the Priestly family of Levi. They were not there to entertain the people, or to merely heighten their sense of emotional enrichment. On this occasion they were to express Israel’s joy toward God in the blessing of the returned ark.

The musicians acted within the authority given them to represent the people before God, and God before the people. The Levites lead the music, David and the people were involved too.

1 Chronicles 15:27-28, David was clothed with a robe of fine linen, as were all the Levites who bore the ark, the singers, and Chenaniah the music master with the singers. David also wore a linen ephod. Thus all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the LORD with shouting and with the sound of the horn, with trumpets and with cymbals, making music with stringed instruments and harps.

Upon the arrival of the ark in Jerusalem, sacrifices were made, David pronounced a blessing upon the people, food was distributed, and some of the Levites were appointed to lead the people in thankful praise to God. One of the elements was the use of song. The lyrics of the song in 1 Chronicles 16:8-36 are the same as those in Psalms 96, 105, and 106.

1 Chronicles 16:5-6, Asaph the chief, and next to him Zechariah, then Jeiel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, and Obed-Edom: Jeiel with stringed instruments and harps, but Asaph made music with cymbals; Benaiah and Jahaziel the priests regularly blew the trumpets before the ark of the covenant of God.

The use of song in worship continued as a regular practice in Israel after that occasion.

1 Chronicles 16:37, So he left Asaph and his brothers there before the ark of the covenant of the LORD to minister before the ark regularly, as every day’s work required;

The use of songs as a part of worship continued in the New Testament. Jesus and his disciples sang a song before they departed from the Passover at his Last Supper. It’s mentioned on special occasions where individuals responded to God’s work as he revealed it to them as the program of covenantal redemption unfolded. Nothing is said about changing the use of song in worship after the Jewish era. We can infer that worship services in the early church continued to include congregational singing about God’s revealed truth and promises.

Songs in worship have a specific purpose. The object toward which all worship is directed is God. His glory is the prime objective.

No parts of worship should be directed just toward the people for mood setting, or to make it appealing to unbelievers. To advertise performances to attract people to attend for personal pleasure or entertainment violates the basic purpose of biblical worship.

The various themes of worship in Scripture set the boundaries limiting what all songs in worship should include. Our songs declare the nature of God, his attributes, his mercies, his judgments, and his works. Songs may also express our response to God’s revealed glory by our humble thankfulness, joy, praise, faith, and repentance.

The musical elements of worship songs aren’t preserved in Scripture. We don’t have inspired examples of melody, chord structure, or tempo. The meter of some Psalms and other biblical songs show us little of how the musical elements would have sounded. Some instruments were used and various groups of voices appear to have combined in some ways. How these compare with the use of instruments and arrangements in our modern cultures remains an uncertain issue.

Who does the singing? Few argue against the joining of the congregation in singing. There is some controversy today about who should lead songs in worship. This relates to the whole matter of leadership in the regular worship services of the church. It appears that this is the duty of Ordained Elders as representative mediators between the people and God, and as overseers of understanding the content of what God has revealed and what he has prescribed for his worship.

(Bible quotations are from the New King James Version of the Bible unless otherwise noted.)

Burning Bulls and Broken Hearts

We often hear people say they have a heart condition. Though every heart is always in some condition, they usually mean they have some kind of unhealthy condition. Their heart may have its blood supply reduced. It may have suffered damage to its tissue, nerves or valves. There may be interruptions in the way neural impulses control the contractions of the heart muscles which pump blood through the lungs then throughout the body.

Physical heart conditions can make a person get out of breath or tire easily. Repairs might be needed so the person could resume normal activities. He may need by-pass surgery, angioplasty, or a stent to improve the blood supply. Sometimes damaged valves need to be repaired or replaced. He may need a pacemaker to ensure synchronization and full operation of the chambers.

There are also problems with the heart spiritually. Just as a physical heart must at the very least be alive before it can be repaired, so also a spiritual heart must be alive spiritually. It must be redeemed. As we know all too well, even the redeemed heart can still have problems. When we suffer with the spiritual kind of heart condition, our worship and prayer can seem laborsome. Our service to others and management of our time, possessions, and abilities can become limited.

When King David was confronted with his sin and guilt, he became concerned because his heart was not right as he approached God.

To understand this last part of Psalm 51
we need to go back in time to the sacrificial system.

David had captured Jerusalem from the Jebusites, and made it the capitol of Israel. When the ark was recovered he brought it there to establish Jerusalem as the center of worship.

At that time Israel lived under the form of God’s covenant given through Moses. Every day, crowds gathered at the tent of the Tabernacle to bring their sacrifices. There was the sound of bellowing animals, the sight of blood flowing over the altar, and the smell in the air of flesh being burned before the Lord.

It was a dramatic display of what our sins deserve. There must be a shedding of blood representing the penalty of death. The sacrifice held out God’s amazing promise that He will provide a substitute to die in the place of the sinner.

Those looking at this graphic scene of the sacrificial worship of the Tabernacle could only see the outward actions of the priests and the people. When God viewed it, he also looked upon the heart of those involved in the proceedings.

What we see in worship today is also just the outward part. We might see people calling upon the Lord in prayer, families gathered to read Scripture and pray together, churches assembled on the Sabbath with the singing of hymns, giving attention to sermons, and the distributing of the elements of the Lord’s Supper.

But in all these outward forms, we must remember that God looks upon the heart. When we worship, or come thankfully for cleansing from sin, we must remember that it is the heart, not just the knees, which must be humbly bowed before God. This was King David’s awareness in this next verse of Psalm 51.

Psalm 51:16, “For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering.”

How could David say that God did not desire or take pleasure in the sacrifices? They were his sacrifices! He had commanded them! But David also knew that there was more to them than just the outward rituals. What God commanded was not just the death of animals by priests. He established that process so that repentant people could come admitting what their sins deserved, and showing their trust in the promise of God to redeem them.

The enemy of our faith is very cunning and subtle. He has gotten very few to openly worship the kingdom of Satan. In attacking the family of God he knows that not many will be fooled into blatant paganism. Instead, he twists things around. He gets us to blend the form of truth with the substance of a lie.

The synthetic religion that comes out of that process is a thing that may look good outwardly, but inwardly it makes everything point to the glory of the creature instead of honoring the Creator. What is left of the Creator is a watered down deity begging us not to spoil his plans.

The sacrifices of Israel had deteriorated into a works religion.

It was imagined that by killing animals God would be impressed, and would remit our sins. Many make the common error that before the time of Jesus Christ sins were atoned for by sacrifices. This was the error of the ancient Jews. The principle underlying that error continues to cloud the minds of many religious people today.

God never said that the killing of animals as sacrifices, the burnt offerings of the young bulls, were the actual grounds for salvation. The priestly sacrifices did not remove sin’s guilt by themselves. They represented God’s covenant promise to provide a salvation we are not qualified to earn.

Today we understand more about how our Savior restores his people to fellowship with God. We know how God took on the nature of a human, and in that nature died in place of his people. This promised Messiah became the Lamb of God to shed his blood for his people.

The Old Testament taught what every believer should have known about the sacrifices. Their real nature was revealed in the law and explained by the prophets. Even before Christ, the true worshipers knew that justice demands eternal death for sin, and that somehow God would pay that price for his people.

By grace alone God applied that future work of the Messiah to his people before Jesus was born. That work of grace regenerated their spiritually dead hearts, and implanted in them the faculty of true faith. That faith drove the believers to repentance and to trust in the covenant promises about forgiveness of sin. To show their gratitude, their regenerated hearts desired to obey God and to worship him as he said they should. That meant bringing sacrifices to him according to the law, which included an understanding of the promise that God would redeem his people by grace alone.

If a person brought a sacrifice without a redeemed heart, it did not remove his sin. That kind of sacrifice was a denial of the provision of God. It imagined that man could save himself by rituals. That kind of worship is condemned in the Bible, in the ancient law itself. God took no delight in such an abomination.

In the Book of Hebrews chapter 10, this is explained clearly.

Hebrews 10:4, “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins. ”

Hebrews 10:11, “And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.”

Without a right heart a sacrifice cannot be acceptable to God. What makes the heart right is the work of God’s grace. It was God’s provision in the Promised Savior, not what the worshiper did, that made the ancient sacrifices beneficial. David was not demeaning the God-ordered sacrifice, only the superficial degradation of it.

In contrast to the mere outward forms we see,
God looks upon the heart.

Psalm 51:17, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart — These, O God, You will not despise.”

A broken and contrite heart shows the inner work of God’s grace. It shows evidence of the atonement which was demonstrated outwardly in the physical sacrifices. Very few things are best when broken — but one of those things is the human heart.

One of the fun candies we used to enjoy when I was a kid was called Turkish Taffy. I’ve seen it around still, but more as a nostalgic novelty candy. It was a solid hard bar you could hardly bite into without damaging your teeth. Before you opened the package, you slammed it down hard on the table broking it apart into bite-sized pieces. When you put them in your mouth they would slowly melt and become chewy and tasty.

Most things cannot be used when they get broken. But the heart is not broken in that way. A spiritually dysfunctional heart is broken so that it can be renewed to work as God created it to work.

The Hebrew word translated “contrite” is “dikah” (דכה). In the form used here it means to be crushed. It is used in Numbers 11:8 of seed that is ground up in a mortar into a fine flower for baking. We must be brought low before God. We need to be crushed down by the recognition of our sin and personal unworthiness if our worship is to lift us up to see the glory of our most Holy Creator.

The world would think it strange that we find humble contrition over sin and joy in the same place together. The two are only incompatible when there is no atonement. The world’s false joy is the illusion of a heart deceiving itself about its guilt.

This is the worship which God will not despise. It is his own work done in our needy hearts. David would give all he could, if his own effort would help, but he knew it would not. So he came crushed, humbled, clinging to the promises of God which cannot fail.

David was not only concerned for himself.

Psalm 51:18, “Do good in Your good pleasure to Zion; Build the walls of Jerusalem.”

Zion was the hill in Jerusalem where David planned to one day build a permanent temple to God. Of course God chose Solomon after him to actually build the temple there.

The King wanted the place where God’s people gathered for worship to be specially blessed. Instead of being where abominable sacrifices were made by those who came in ignorance and self-trust, he wanted it to be divinely favored so that its worship would truly honor the Lord.

As we pray, we should remember to ask God’s blessing upon the church as it gathers in the place of worship on the Sabbath. We should pray that all who come together on that day would have a right attitude, trusting in the true sacrifice of Christ with broken hearts.

Pray during the week and specially on Saturday for families and individuals as they prepare for the Sabbath morning. As you get up on Sunday pray that each one who attends will be ready and looking forward to the worship time. We may have many motives that make us anticipate our gatherings for worship, but the prime motive should not be to see friends, to hear a stimulating lesson, or to sing uplifting music. It should be above all else our driving desire to come humble but thankfully to honor our Creator-Redeemer for his work of grace and unfailing promises.

Preparation for Sunday worship is more than laying out your clothes the night before. It also means getting your heart right so that your worship will not be superficial and only outward. Come remembering the grace that made you want to be there.

David also wanted to wall in the city of Jerusalem to make it safe from her enemies. The job had begun, but there was still much to do. Though it would not be completed until the time of Solomon, David prayed that the work of national defense would be blessed by God.

David’s concern for God’s blessings on Zion and protection of Jerusalem was not just outward. The whole theme of this Psalm is about David’s concern over his sin and its effects. Back in verse 11 David expressed his fear that God would withdraw the Holy Spirit’s enablement from him. He did not want to become an ineffective King as happened with Saul before him.

The Psalm now shows David’s concern that his sins might also bring trouble to his nation. He did not want the worship or safety of Jerusalem endangered because of what he did. David again shows the tender and devoted heart of a gifted King.

When believers make excuses for their sins, and show no interest in reforming, God lovingly chastises them as wayward children. This is evident back in verses 11 and 12. The Lord may withdraw their inner peace and sense of assurance and hope. Sometimes he may bring outward suffering. When one member of the body goes through hard times, the whole body can be effected. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 12:26, “And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.”

When we sin or drift away from the Lord, we need to be concerned for its effect on others. As David prayed, we should ask the Lord to bless his church and to keep her safe when we sin.

Our primary focus must always be
to please God in our worship and living.

Psalm 51:19, “Then You shall be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, With burnt offering and whole burnt offering; Then they shall offer bulls on Your altar.”

In this last verse of the Psalm, David envisions a restored church. With a restored King, and the blessing of God upon the people, their worship, and the city, the sacrifice would again become pleasing to the Lord.

The actual event that would take place in history making the true sacrifice, and making the restoration of sinners possible was yet to come in the course of time. However, even in those times before the birth of Jesus Christ, David knew God’s promises. He understood that his heart had to be to be right before God could be pleased with his worship. The blood and burning flesh of bulls could not change his heart. Only the work of grace based upon the one great promised substitute toward which the blood sacrifices pointed could do that.

In John 1:29, John the baptist saw Jesus coming and he said to his disciples, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

It was our Savior’s death on the cross that actually paid the price of the sins of God’s people. It applies to the past, present and future. No sin was ever, nor could ever be, removed upon any other grounds.

What the burning of bulls could not accomplish, the cross of Calvary did. Describing the finished work of Jesus, Hebrews 10:12 says, “But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God,”

How is your spiritual heart as you come to worship God?

Is it broken over sin so that it is ready to be repaired by God’s wonders and promises? Is it relying upon the work of grace through Christ as its only and infallible hope? Is it concerned for the well being of the whole church, and all its members? Is it focused upon the pleasure of God in all you do?

To develop a spiritually healthy heart, the needs of our physical heart can be good reminders. Your physical heart needs a good supply of blood to feed it and keep it strong. The redeemed heart needs to be fed too. The nutrients God provides and moves us to embrace will be used to strengthen us spiritually.

The Bible points to the nutrition we need. If we fail to feed upon God’s truth, we will trust in lies that starve our souls. If we neglect to commune with God in prayer, we show no confidence in his care and promises. We will then suffer for lack of this important nutrient our soul desperately needs.

The healthy heart also needs to engage in humble worship through Christ. It is there that we thankfully receive the word and sacraments as we lift up our hearts in praise expressing our gratitude for his mercies.

God has also established his church to be an encouraging family to provide fellowship, care, and admonition of one another. When we reach out in mutual care and admonition we show the love of God at work in our otherwise self-centered hearts. 1 John 3:17 warns, “But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?”

A sound physical heart is fundamental to a person being healthy. A spiritually healthy heart is also necessary if our lives and times of worship are to please God. When we engage in the remedies God prescribes in his word, we will discover the evidence of the Holy Spirit at work to repair our heart condition.

How different David must have felt after he made things right with God again after his sin. Before then, every time he entered the Temple his conscience would have torn at his heart. Oh, the relief and peace of God’s merciful forgiveness bringing joy into the place where there was tension!

How different the Apostle Paul must have felt after he came to Christ. The Temple, all its furnishings and sacrifices which he had known all his life, which he had studied under Gamaliel, all took on a totally new dimension when he came to know the Savior toward which the rituals pointed. Oh, the forgiveness he personally felt, as one who felt he was the chief of sinners!

It was never burning bulls or bleeding lambs that made people right with God. It was the suffering Messiah which the sacrifices represented. We discover him to be our Savior and Lord by grace through faith in his word of promise, a gospel that heals broken hearts.

Psalm 51 is a treasure chest of blessings. It is a model of humble confession, and confidence in amazing grace.

(Note: The Bible quotations in this article are from the New King James Bible unless otherwise noted.)

The Fruit of Restoration

There are times when we wish we could go back and do something differently. It might be a decision that put us in harm’s way, or choices where wisdom was set aside and the consequences of our bad judgment torment us for a long time. Bad investments or unwise purchases can plunge us into lingering debts. Poorly chosen words can ruin a friendship, and an inattentive moment can cause an accident where lives are changed forever.

Among those regrets are the times when we have done things contrary to God’s moral principles. As believers we struggle with that awful awareness that we have offended the God who redeemed us. Our conscience burns away inside when we imagine how we must appear to our Creator’s holy eyes.

When we are crushed by debts, or humbled by calamities, it is wonderful to be told that the problem has been taken care of and is finally behind us. We learn the joy of a debt that has been cleared, of a disease that has been cured, of a surgery that went well, or of the passing of some bad experience or threat. That kind of news makes us want to thank anyone who might have helped make it happen for us. It’s hard not to let our joy show.

Luke records a situation in the life of Jesus Christ that illustrates this principle.

Luke 7:36-50 tells about the time Simon the Pharisee invited Jesus to his home. While he was there a woman with a sinful reputation came to honor Jesus. She came thankfully because she knew that she was forgiven for her sins. Moved with gratitude and great emotion, she walked up behind Jesus and began to weep. Her tears dropped down onto Jesus feet. She loosened her hair and used it to wipe his feet. Then she started to kiss the feet of her Savior. Next she broke open a costly alabaster jar of very expensive perfume and started to anoint his feet. With no thought for social customs, she was overcome with gratitude and love.

Ignoring the rules of the Pharisees, Jesus did not rebuke her. He permitted her to continue. Simon said nothing out loud, but he thought to himself, “This Man, if He were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching Him, for she is a sinner.” (Luke 7:39)

Not only did Jesus know who this woman was, he knew her heart, and he knew Simon’s inner thoughts too. He answered the unspoken concerns of Simon’s heart with a parable in Luke 7:40-42.

Two men were in debt to the same lender. One owed 500 denarii, another owed 50 denarii. Neither was able to pay his debt. But to their relief, the lender canceled both debts. Then Jesus asked Simon which of the two will love him most?

Simon answered very carefully, “I suppose the one whom he forgave more.” Jesus told Simon that he was right. Then Jesus explained the lesson. He not only interprets it for us, he applies it in Luke 7:44-50.

First he pointed out Simon’s own lack of hospitality. Simon offered him no water to wash his feet, no towel, no kiss of welcome, no anointing oil. He had shown little concern for honoring his guest. In contrast, this woman washed his feet with her tears, dried them with her hair, had not stopped kissing his feet, and brought expensive perfume to anoint him.

Then Jesus came to his main point, he confirmed that the woman’s sins had been forgiven. He said in Luke 7:47, “Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.”

By her service and love this woman evidenced that she had been forgiven. Luke’s account points to the source of love and devotion. It flows from a forgiven heart changed by the grace of God.

Simon showed no love, no sense of service, therefore had no evidence of forgiveness. The implication was devastating if understood.

Nathan also used a parable when he came to expose King David’s sin.

In 2 Samuel 12:1-4 Nathan told King David about a rich man with many flocks and herds. When a visitor came to him, instead of using one of his own lambs for the meal he killed one which was kept as a loved animal by a poor family which had nothing but that one lamb.

When David heard the story he was angry, and said that the rich man who did this deserved to die. He should restore the lamb fourfold. Then Nathan said to David, “Thou art the man.”

The prophet Nathan had not come to David alone, the Holy Spirit was there too. David felt the weight of his sin after his secret adultery with Bathsheba, after his attempts to cover it up and his conspiracy with a military commander to have Bathsheba’s husband killed. As Nathan spoke, the King was humbled repentantly before God.

It was upon this occasion that David wrote this wonderful Psalm we know as Psalm 51. In the first 12 verses he admitted his guilt and offense against God, and expresses his confidence in God’s promises of grace. Assured of restoration David continued in the next portion of the Psalm.

David hoped that others would be helped by his restoration.

Psalm 51:13, “Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners shall be converted to You.”

David’s concern was not limited to himself. He evidenced the heart of a true King. He saw his restoration as a way to help God’s people, those who were sinners like himself. He did not aspire to help only the great, the rich, or the famous who would build up his reputation or ego. The single characteristic that marked out the objects of his concern was their awareness of a need for spiritual restoration. He wanted to help offenders like himself, whoever they might be.

David also understood the importance of declaring what God has made known to us. The ways of God must be taught because they are the means God has ordained by which the Holy Spirit works in our hearts when we have done that which offends our Creator. The revealed word enlivened in us by grace exposes our need and drives us into the arms of the Savior.

David wanted God to make him an example of how grace restores us though we have proven our utter unworthiness and depravity. He wanted to be the teacher God would use to convert sinners. Being “converted” is not just changing religions as the world often uses that term. It is the change produced in someone’s life by God’s grace. God delivers his word through those he uses as teachers. The results and evidences of this work of grace are seen in the lives of God’s people. This is how David hoped to help others who were sinners as he was.

Often those who have overcome a problem can be used in a special way to help those struggling with the same issues. There are support groups made up of those who have recovered from diseases, or who have gone through other types of serious tragedies. As Charles Spurgeon said, “Reclaimed poachers make the best gamekeepers.” It was John Newton, the redeemed slave trader who helped end slavery in England, and wrote Amazing Grace, one of the greatest hymns of all time.

Those delivered from serious sins can have a special ministry of encouragement. Of course no one should ever glamorize sin or suffering, nor should anyone make it seem good to fall so that we can specially help others after we recover. But when we fall, as those forgiven and restored by grace, we can rejoice in being able to specially help others taken in by temptation.

The Bible provides many examples where God used penitent sinners as encouraging examples of the work of Grace.

The Apostle Paul was a fierce persecutor of Christians. He was a Pharisee who believed that he was righteous in himself and had no need for a Savior. When redeemed, God used him to bring many self-righteous people to faith in Christ, and to promote joy to those who had become aware of their sinful offenses.

King David is the example here in Psalm 51. Little did he know how his experience and this Psalm would effect so many struggling sinners for thousands of years after his death. There have been many thousands of encouraging sermons and commentaries written on this helpful Psalm.

The redeemed become an example of God’s deliverance to others who also need that salvation. Never let your sin be a discouragement that keeps you from seeking to be a witness to the gospel of grace. Instead, your deliverance should motivate you all the more to tell the good news. Bishop William Cowper wrote, “Every talent received from God should be put to profit, but specially the talent of mercy; as it is greatest, so the Lord requires greater fruit of it, for his own glory, and for the edification of our brethren.”

Those delivered from sin are the ones God often uses in helping others discover his work of restoration through the work of Christ. The only testimony properly admitted in a trial is that which comes from first-hand witnesses. Those who have merely heard someone else say something are not allowed to testify. This is why God’s word calls the redeemed to be his witnesses. They have seen his work first hand and can know the shame of guilt, and appreciate the triumphant message of grace.

We need to overcome our fallen nature that suggests that evil sinners cannot be redeemed, or that fallen believers are beyond hope. We should never forget that these are exactly the kinds of persons God promises to redeem and to restore. God is able, and his promises can never fail.

The elect are invisible until they show a credible trust in the work of the Savior. When the redeemed fall into sin, the truth of their deliverance may seem uncertain to others until they are restored repentantly to rediscover the joys of God’s grace. The momentary invisibility of grace at work should not be seen as evidence that it is not about to demonstrate itself in a struggling life.

The means of this salvation and restoration is the promise of God, declared and demonstrated by other believers in the power of the Holy Spirit. It is our privilege to be the tools in the hand of our Creator bringing the word of the gospel to those in need of its hope. This was David’s great encouragement.

David did not excuse his sin, or minimize what he had done. He asked to be delivered from nothing less than bloodguiltiness. Literally, it means he asked to be “delivered from bloods.” This is a plural of emphasis which often indicates crimes that carry the death penalty. David had committed adultery with another man’s wife, and he planned the death of her husband. Yet he never lost confidence in the power of God to save him from his guilt and deserved penalty.

It may seem like a strange qualification for a witness of God’s righteousness, that he would admit to bloodguiltiness. But humble repentance is a more important characteristic for the believer than an imagined sense of innocence or superiority.

One time our family doctor sent me to a specialist for some minor surgery. The surgeon was good in the operating room, but had a reputation for being short and cold toward his patients. Some months later I was in for a check up and our doctor asked if I remembered how harsh the surgeon had been. I remembered very well. Then he told me that he was not that way any more. He had since undergone surgery himself. Now he was noticeably more understanding and open with his patients.

When God humbles us by our sin and guilt, we appreciate the agony of others as they struggle with feelings of guilt before they understand how much they are forgiven by our gracious God.

David expected that his restored soul would not be able to contain his joy. It would break forth with singing about God’s righteousness. Songs about God’s goodness to us fill thousands of editions of hymnals.

Would we not rather expect David’s joyful song to be about his deliverance rather than about God’s righteousness? The King’s great joy was not simply that he was now off the hook for his guilt, but that God was no longer offended by it, yet without violation of the holy justice of his Creator. He was forgiven, but the eternal righteousness of God was preserved.

What he had done was so horrible that he deserved death and eternal infinite condemnation. He did not merely ask God to overlook his sin. He did not hope in a divine amnesia where somehow his sins were just ignored. That kind of mercy and forgiveness is an unfounded myth. It would be righteousness disregarded and justice violated.

David was a king. He knew that offenses must be satisfied justly. If he was promised forgiveness and restoration, that must mean that the debt was paid in full. Though he knew less of our Savior’s work than we do today, that promise given in Eden, foreshadowed in the law, and repeatedly announced by the Prophets was his hope.

God’s righteousness imparted to him by the work of a loving Savior was a wonderful theme for his songs of praise. David’s maturity before God came as he humbled himself in childlike submission to grace. It is amazing how much we grow up, when we humbly bow down.

When we sin, as we all do, our humble confession and praise is a good lesson to the world and to other struggling believers. Psalm 40:3 says, “He has put a new song in my mouth — Praise to our God; Many will see it and fear, And will trust in the LORD.”

Sadly, even as God’s redeemed children, instead of songs of joy as we look at God’s promises, our tongues and lips often complain when calamity comes. Or they whimper in depression when guilt weighs down upon us. Excuses are sought out, and blame is shifted to others we imagine are to blame for our improper behaviors and attitudes. As James 3:6 tells us, “And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell.”

However, lips, tongues and mouths were designed to sing praises to God. The next time you use your mouth, lips and tongue, remember why you have them. God displaces a world of wickedness when he looses our tongues to sing his praises. How wonderful to have those parts converted back to their original function. That is the good fruit our restoration brings.

Like the woman who was driven to anoint the feet of Jesus with her tears, like the man who loved much because he was forgiven a great debt, like David whose sins of blood-guiltiness were paid for by a Savior who was yet to come, we need to own up to own debt, and appreciate its costly payment by grace upon a Roman Cross outside of Jerusalem.

In the one who is forgiven much, there is much love, and it cannot contain itself. It will stir in us an uncontainable desire to tell others, and to help them discover God’s grace too. It will make our hearts break forth in humble praise and thanksgiving.

Where is our love? our daily and Sabbath praise? our testimony to others? Where is our passion to help others find the joy of salvation? It ought to be the natural desire of the truly redeemed soul. May God stir our hearts to that kind of humble love and thankful service.

(Note: The Bible quotations in this article are from the New King James Bible unless otherwise noted.)

Spiritual Consequences

It’s dangerous business to live contrary to what pleases the one who blesses us. Even dogs know better than to bite the hand that feeds them. Yet people often deceive themselves into thinking that sin is only a minor problem.

Since people are not always stricken with diseases or sudden death when they sin, since God promises that he will not send truly redeemed believers to hell, some get the idea that doing what is right must not matter much.

In our imperfect understanding of things in this life, we may not be as keenly aware of our offensiveness toward God as we should be. To get our attention and to teach his children a better way, God may withhold blessings and enablements for a time. This is the Fatherly chastising or discipline which God will not neglect since he loves us.

This is clearly taught in Hebrews 12:5-6, “And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: ‘My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD, Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; For whom the LORD loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives.’ ”

In verses 10-11 in that same chapter speaking first of our earthly fathers it says, “For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”

Offending God can disrupt our lives in many ways. In loving discipline our Lord may lessen our awareness of his comfort, and our confidence in his assurances of hope. He may even take away our ability to do our job well by withdrawing the help of the Holy Spirit for a time.

King David had learned the horrible consequences of his moment of sin. In Psalm 51 he lamented over the offenses he had committed against God. He prayed that God would cleanse away his guilt and restore him to divine fellowship. He was concerned that there may be further consequences of his sin.

Psalm 51:11, “Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.”

David was concerned that his sin would alienate him from God. He did not fear alienation from the physical presence of God. Since the Holy Spirit is God, he is Omnipresent. Even those who try to hide from God cannot. God is everywhere, always. He fills all space in the whole universe he created. This is clearly summarized in Psalm 139:7-10, “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, Even there Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me.”

We can also be confident that David did not fear that God would take away his salvation. He had already shown his trust in a full atonement that turned away God’s wrath.

David did not fear that he would lose the Spirit’s indwelling. “Indwelling” is not a reference to the physical presence of the Lord in a believer. God, as we have seen, is always everywhere. Indwelling refers to the promised seal of the Holy Spirit upon us to enable us to spiritual life and to comfort us. Every redeemed person has this special presence of God and it cannot be taken away.

However, David evidently saw some threat to his relationship with God the Holy Spirit. To understand this, we need to remember where this Psalm fits in with biblical history. There had only been one King of Israel before David. That was King Saul. 1 Samuel 10 tells about the anointing of King Saul by Samuel.

1 Samuel 10:1, “Then Samuel took the flask of oil, poured it on his head, kissed him and said, ‘Has not the LORD anointed you a ruler over His inheritance?’ ”

Oil was used as a symbol of Holy Spirit to set aside prophets, priests, and kings. It represented their consecration to the calling of God as the Spirit enabled them.

The Spirit was promised to Saul to enable him with the skills he needed to rule Israel effectively on God’s behalf. He would even be able to act as God’s spokesman in special cases. Samuel said to him,

1 Samuel 10:6, “Then the Spirit of the LORD will come upon you, and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man.”

1 Samuel 10:9, “So it was, when he had turned his back to go from Samuel, that God gave him another heart; and all those signs came to pass that day.”

In that sense, Saul was enabled by the work of the Holy Spirit to be man of another kind, one chosen and equipped to be king over God’s people.

When Saul abandoned God’s ways and sinned grievously, he was left without God’s blessing. Chapter 13 of First Samuel records that tragic time when Saul was impatient and intruded upon the priest’s office. He made a burnt offering which he was forbidden to do. (13:9) Because of this horrible sin, the Kingdom was to be taken from him. His enemies would not be utterly destroyed (13:19), and the Holy Spirit’s enablement to rule well as king would be taken away from him.

1 Samuel 16:13-14, ” … the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel arose and went to Ramah. But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and a distressing spirit from the LORD troubled him.

1 Samuel 18:12 “Now Saul was afraid of David, for the Lord was with him but had departed from Saul.”

After these events in Saul’s life he was never again a competent king.

It stands to reason that David would fear the same judgment as a result of his sins. He feared that God would choose another king to rule in his place, or that God would take away the gift of enablement for his vocation as had been done with Saul before him.

The Spirit’s presence enables us to accomplish our duties before the Lord. These enablements are often called the “fillings” of the Spirit.

Ephesians 5:18, “And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit”

In this verse the durative form of the verb means “be being filled with the Spirit.” Throughout the book of Acts there are repeated fillings of the Holy Spirit, often to the same person. These fillings are associated with specific tasks or assignments from God. In the Bible these fillings enable believers to teach, to rule, to preach God’s Word, and so on.

The church has many members, each with his own task and ability from God (1 Corinthians 12). Each area of service in the Christian community needs the Spirit’s enablement.

Any success that honors God with our talent at being sales representatives, managers, teachers, parents, spouses, programmers, Deacons, Elders, students, builders, fixers, or servants, is provided to us by the work of the Holy Spirit in us.

This is the loss which David feared. It should concern us when we do wrong. David knew he had sinned. He had seen God abandon King Saul before him. So David humbly offered this Psalm of confession and prayer.

Even among the heathen, their ability to keep order in society or in their homes is only possible by the restraining power of God to keep their depravity contained.

Every human ability is a gift of God and may be disrupted when God determines it best to do so. To the heathen, God brings down kings and kingdoms, and punishes all sorts of personal evil. The condemning tragedy of it all is that they fail to honor God with the abilities he gives them. To the Christian, God acts as a loving Father to withdraw his enablement at times to discipline them, sometimes strongly, so that they will wake up from their sin and turn to him in even greater humility and obedience.

A while ago, I was working on a notebook computer researching information for a sermon. I was searching the internet for some historical details behind a difficult text I was studying. Suddenly my internet program kept giving me errors when ever I tried to link to a web address. I became very frustrated and tried to connect again and again but with the same results. I was about to pick up the phone and call my internet provider to report that service to my area had been interrupted. Then I noticed that the lights on my VCR across the room were not on. Then I looked around my study and noticed that the numbers on my cable box were not lit. I looked down at my computer and noticed that it had switched over to battery power. The problem was not my internet provider. The electricity had gone off leaving my cable modem with no power. When the electricity came back on a few moments later, everything was fine again.

Then there was that time I was getting frustrated that the remote control for our cable box was not working as well at it should. It had given me trouble on and off for the past week so I figured there was a bad connection inside. I did the high tech thing, I started banging on it to get it to work. But nothing seemed to help. Before I got in the car to take it to the cable office for replacement, I thought to check the batteries. Sure enough, they were low on power. I changed them and the remote worked perfectly.

I’m sure that in our electronic age you have had similar experiences. You may seem to be doing everything right, but still things are not working quite right. I’ve even seen people believe something was broken only to discover they had failed to plug it into the wall socket. Without a source of power, even the most sophisticated piece of equipment will not work.

You may have great skills as a teacher, as a mechanic, as a father or mother, as a student, but if God withdraws the Spirit’s enablement, nothing seems to work right. Our failure often gets our attention back on the Lord, to ask humbly for his strength, and to remember to give him the glory in all that we aspire to think, say, and do.

How could we think that our loving Heavenly Father would let us sin as parents, children, students, teachers, doctors, mechanics, musicians, businessmen, or fishermen, and not remind us of our need to keep him first in all we do. He may withdraw our skill for a time, let us fail, to get our attention.

God calls us to every honorable job we have to do. He also enables us with every skill we need to complete the jobs he gives us. The original founders of Methodism were the Wesley brothers. Charles said, “If the Lord would give me wings, I’d fly.” John added, “If God bids me fly, I will trust him for the wings.”

David understood that very well. He feared what would happen if God took away his ability to rule Israel well. Would he become an ineffective leader as happened to Saul? Would he be replaced? This is why David begged that God would not abandon him and take away the Spirit’s filling.

Should we ever fear the loss of the Holy Spirit?

In one sense the answer is “No”. There should be no fear that we would lose the Spirit’s covenantal presence and ministry to us. We may not always be as aware of his presence and ministry, but it is always there for us as God’s covenant people. Yet that awareness and our enablement to our task or calling may be withdrawn to help us grow spiritually.

This happened even to the Apostle Peter late in his ministry when he should have known better. In Galatians 2:11-14 Paul tells us this sad story. “Now when Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed; for before certain men came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision. And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy. But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, “If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews?”

The Jews were unsure of their new liberty in Christ. Peter was afraid of crossing them. He looked to his own wisdom instead of to the command of the Lord. He became an ineffective Apostle and encouraged hypocrisy among the Jews. Paul humbly had to rebuke him. When he did, God used that correction to turn the heart of Peter to see his foolishness.

Earlier, Peter had remembered to rest in God rather than in his own wisdom and skill. A man had been healed through him as God’s agent. Acts 3:12 explained, “So when Peter saw it, he responded to the people: ‘Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Or why look so intently at us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?’ ”

God had permitted the lapse later in Peter’s life, and had it recorded here in Scripture so that we might learn from his error. God does at times withdraw a believer’s skills and success when he falls into temptation.

We need to remember to pray for and to rest upon this enablement of the Holy Spirit in whatever the Lord has called us to do, and not to rest in our own abilities.

Proverbs 3:5-8, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the LORD and depart from evil. It will be health to your flesh, And strength to your bones.”

He did not ask for his salvation to be restored. That cannot be taken away once it is truly ours. But he confessed that his sin had stirred God to remove the joy that salvation should bring. He begged to have his spirit maintained in its willingness to honor the Lord in all things.

What does God call upon us to do to preserve the enablement of the Spirit in our lives?

The answer is obvious and simple:
1. we are called upon to obey God’s principles which are lovingly revealed to us in his word.
2. we should never think we can obey on our own. We must always rest in God’s power to enable us.

It is entirely proper to pray as we begin our homework, cook a meal, teach a class, approach a customer, go to management meetings, discipline our children, work on our car, attend Sunday School class, or sit waiting to worship. In all these duties, and in all others, we must learn to rely upon God’s enablement.

But what should we do when we have dishonored God, as we all do quite regularly? There are four basic duties which we see in David’s example in Psalm 51. We must admit, repent, trust, and reform.

1. We need to admit our errors and sins quickly and humbly with no excuses.
2. We need to repent of our offense to our loving and holy Heavenly Father.
3. We must trust in God’s promises and enablement to whatever he calls us to do. This also means we trust in the work of Jesus Christ alone to cleanse us from the guilt of every sin.
4. We must sincerely reform our lives, reshaping them to conform to God’s ways, but relying upon our Savior’s enablement to do so.

The failure of King Saul shows how the unsaved deal with their sin and its horrible consequences. He rebelled against the ways God revealed as right and true. He persisted in his sin and refused to admit his corruption. He did not come to the Savior for cleansing.

He lost the Holy Spirit’s enablement to his divinely appointed task. His last days were days of agony, defeat, and horror. He died lost in the lonely darkness of the consequences of his sin.

What a contrast with King David’s way of dealing with his sin. At first, he too rebelled against what God said was right and good. But when confronted with his immoral behavior he confessed his corruption before God. He knew his guilt would be cleansed away by the work of a promised Savior. David suffered the agonizing outward consequences of his sin. He sought the Lord in diligent prayer and confession. He was restored to the blessings of God’s covenant forgiveness. David continued to serve as king. All his guilt was removed and his skills restored.

Our duty when we fear the removal of God’s enablement in what he calls us to do each day is clear. We must admit, repent, trust, and reform.

It is all done not based upon our own abilities, wisdom, or determination. It is accomplished with humble reliance upon God’s power, redemption, and his loving promises as our Heavenly Father who will not let us go.

As you begin each task, every day, remember that your success depends upon the Spirit’s enablement. Pray to be being filled with the skills that will enable you to do your best for Christ’s Kingdom and glory. When all is done, remember to give thanks to the one from whom all blessings flow.

(Note: The Bible quotations in this article are from the New King James Bible unless otherwise noted.)

Longing For a Good Cleansing

To pay for my expenses while in college I worked at a large commercial laundry. We dealt with laundry from area hotels, motels, repair shops, and many other types of businesses. There were often challenging stains to remove. We had a supply of various solvents and treatments to handle each type of problem. Often the chemicals were very strong and had to be handled with great care. Our job was to remove the stains to the best of our ability while minimizing any damage to the fabrics.

Stain removal is a common issue we all face in our daily lives. With the proper chemicals and equipment, most of them can be dealt with quite easily. But what about the moral stains that mar our souls when we sin against God? What can we do to get rid of those?

When God makes us aware of our guilt, we want to have the offense removed so we can be morally clean again. King David was confronted with the stains that issued from that one night of sin with Bathsheba. He made repeated efforts to cover it up, including risking Israel’s national security by having Bathsheba’s husband killed in battle.

When God’s prophet confronted him, David admitted that what he did was horribly wrong. He grieved and humbly repented before God. His heart was broken. He repented, and wrote this moving Psalm. Our study so far covered the first six verses.

Psalm 51:1-6
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.
1. Have mercy upon me, O God, According to Your lovingkindness; According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, Blot out my transgressions.
2. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin.
3. For I acknowledge my transgressions, And my sin is always before me.
4. Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight — That You may be found just when You speak, And blameless when You judge.
5. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.
6. Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.

Being made aware of the stains from his sin,
David craved to have them removed.

Psalm 51:7, “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.”

The words David used here are very interesting. Hyssop was not used like a scrub brush. It was the branching plant used by the priests in the temple for the ritual purifications. It was dipped in water or in the blood of a sacrificed animal and used to sprinkle the liquid upon someone or upon the altar. It did not actually remove physical stains. It was a symbolic act representing the cleansing God works upon our hearts. God had promised to forgive and redeem his people through the life and work of a Savior. So, David was thinking of something from the Temple laws. He was not illustrating by reference to some kind of daily housecleaning method or bathing practice.

Another thing that stands out is the comparison is that the result of removing guilt would make his soul whiter than snow.

Here in Florida we do not see much snow. I was raised in Buffalo New York where we had plenty of it. As of this writing I have lived in Florida for almost 50 years and remember only three light dustings of snow during all that time. The climate in Israel is very much like our own as far as temperatures are concerned. Snow is rare except in high mountains in the winters. The imagery of towns covered in deep white snow is not what David had in mind.

The language here has to do with “whiteness of snow” as it relates to a particular purification rite described in Scripture. The terms used fit the ritual purification prescribed for those cured of Leprosy. The Jews originally reading this Psalm would naturally have had this imagery in mind. To appreciate what David’s heart was hoping in, we need to understand these laws as the original readers of this Psalm would have understood them.

Leprosy was used by God to represent sin and its corruption during the Levitical period of redemptive history. Leviticus 13 through 14 is filled with details about the diagnosis and handling of the disease. It deals with a particular kind of leprosy where snow white blotches appear on parts of the body, the hair on the flesh in that area changed color, and there were exposed patches of raw flesh. Leviticus 13:14 says, “But when raw flesh appears on him, he shall be unclean.” The leper was to be separated from the camp of God’s people. It represented the offensiveness of sin’s corruption which had to be removed.

A person who recovered from leprosy had to come to the priest for purification. Leviticus 14 explains the two step process to be followed by the priest.

Step One: The priest examined the person outside the camp of Israel.

Leviticus 13:13 “then the priest shall consider; and indeed if the leprosy has covered all his body, he shall pronounce him clean who has the sore. It has all turned white. He is clean.”

When leprosy runs its course the body becomes white with flakes of dry skin where the raw patches of flesh were. This means the disease is over. The person is considered cured. The crimson or scarlet spots of raw flesh representing corruption go away. The white flakes of dried skin then fall off exposing new healthy skin.

Two birds were to be brought for a purification ceremony. One bird was killed as a sacrifice. The living bird was to be dipped in the blood of the sacrificed bird, then was allowed to fly off representing the new life when sin is removed.

Then hyssop was dipped in the blood, and the priest sprinkled the former leper seven times. This is what David alluded to in verse seven when he wrote, “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.”

This is probably what Isaiah meant when he wrote in Isaiah 1:18, ” ‘Come now, and let us reason together,’ Says the LORD, ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool.’ ”

How are our sins red like crimson? That was the color of the bloody ulcers of leprosy. The white like snow, or wool, is the color of the healed skin after recovery from leprosy. All the crimson outbreaks would have gone away, and the skin would have become completely covered with white flakes like snow.

Step Two: After seven days the leper had blood applied to him from a sacrificed lamb. It was to be put on the tip of his ear, his right thumb, and his right toe. This is generally understood as foreshadowing the blood of Jesus, the lamb of God. His blood purifies us from the effect of sin restoring our ears to hear the word of God, our hands to do what God says, and our feet to follow in his ways. Then the same parts were anointed with oil representing the work of the Holy Spirit. The purified leper was then received back into the camp of Israel as one redeemed by the Lord.

Just imagine the feeling of a leper who recovered, was purified by God’s priest, and was restored to full fellowship with God’s people again!

That’s pretty dramatic symbolism! God provided this process to show how sinners are cleansed from the pollution of sin. Today we have the advantage of knowing the completed work of Jesus Christ. The rituals are fulfilled. Today, leprosy is just a disease like all others.

The spiritual cleansing these purifications represented is ours by faith in the finished work of our Savior. 1 John 1:7 says, “… the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”

This is the confidence we can have in Christ. We can know that we are truly washed clean when we come to our Lord with humble and sincere confession of sin, and trust in God’s promise of forgiveness.

This is the confidence we see in David’s words. He does not say that he hoped he would be made clean, or that he wished to be forgiven. He declares for sure that if God purifies him from the stains of his guilt, he shall be pure again. He will be truly clean in the eyes of his Holy Lord. What a wonderful assurance, to be declared innocent by God, and to be confident about it.

David longed to enjoy the benefits
of being restored to fellowship with God.

Psalm 51:8-10, “Make me hear joy and gladness, That the bones You have broken may rejoice. Hide Your face from my sins, And blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.”

David expected great blessing even though he had sinned horribly. He had once closed his ears to the voice of God’s word and his conscience. But now he expected to hear again the joyful and glad sounds of God’s assurances. His broken bones, smashed by God’s judgment, will again rejoice.

David cried in shame that God would “hide his face” from his sins. Of course David did not imagine that somehow God would turn his head and pretend he did not see what was really there. David understood a most profound and wonderful teaching of Scripture. It is possible to have the offense of our sins really removed from our souls!

He had learned through a hard lesson, how our sins are an offense to the eyes of God. The prophet Habakkuk said in Habakkuk 1:13, “You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, And cannot look on wickedness…..”

So if anyone is to have his fellowship with God restored, his sins must be dealt with. Only when the penalty we deserve is paid, can justice satisfied. God in his deepest of love, took upon himself a real human body and soul to die for his people. The blood of Jesus Christ covers our offenses by paying for them.

This is what we mean by atonement. The word literally means to cover something. Before Jesus came the blood of animals was sprinkled upon the covering over the Ark of God’s Covenant. That covering was called the mercy seat, but literally the Hebrew word means, the covering. In the ark was the copy of God’s law which exposed Israel’s sins and showed her corruption.

When the blood of the Savior is spiritually applied to our souls, our sins are covered, our condemnation is hidden, and the ugly stain is removed. God can again look upon us without offense.

Just as the leper was sprinkled to represent the removal of sin, so the altar was sprinkled in the Old Testament sacrifices, and our souls are sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ. The penalty is paid so that the condemnation can be removed.

David knew that either God would forever hide his face from him, or his sins would be hidden under the future Savior’s atonement, covering his guilt before the Heavenly Father.

David begged for God to blot out his iniquities. This brings back something he said at the beginning of the Psalm. In verse one he said, “Have mercy upon me, O God, According to Your lovingkindness; According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, Blot out my transgressions.”

The blotting out of iniquity was legal language. Indictments were drawn up against those accused of crimes. David knew he was guilty, so he pleaded that whatever solvent was needed to dissolve away the ink from the indictment, let it be applied to his record before God. Here he begs that these horrible yet just accusations might be washed away, that they would no longer appear on his record before the face of God.

In place of sin he wants a clean heart, a steadfast spirit. But this was not a dream or a fantasy. It was not the false hope or wishful thinking of a guilty heart. It was the true hope of a redeemed child of God.

Often, those redeemed by the Savior needlessly believe they still bear the weight of their sins even though they are paid for. The false accusations of the Father of Lies suggest that their evil hearts continue to condemn them before a holy God. Believers washed in the blood of Christ groundlessly anguish under a lifted burden. It is a deception of our darkened minds. We are so imperfect that, though forgiven, we may still grieve as if we are condemned. We listen to the lies whispered by the enemy of our souls, which lead us to question the promises of the Lord of all the universe.

How tragic that Christians sometimes fail to comprehend the wonderful promise of the Gospel, and ignore the declaration of innocence earned by the infinitely great price paid for them by the Savior.

We have the wonderful promise of a restored soul. What a good feeling it is to be clean. That’s the way it is after a long day working around the yard and garden. It feels so good to stand under the refreshing shower, wash away the sweat and dirt, then to get all dried off and put on fresh clothes.

In this same way we come to our Lord with a broken and humbled heart for cleansing. We confidently place our trust in God’s ancient promises, and their fulfillment in the cross. There is no moral detergent to remove our stains other than his atonement. No other is needed.

We show that God has cleansed our own hearts of guilt when we truly forgive others who have offended us.
We are moved by his work of grace in us to dismiss our own anger against those who trespass against us. We rejoice when our slate is washed clean by the blood of Christ, so also we should not keep track of marks against others who have wronged us and repented.

In Colossians 3:13 we are told in God’s word to be, “bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.”

Jesus told us right after the Lord’s prayer in Matthew 6:14-15, “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

This does not mean that our forgiveness from God depends upon our forgiving others. It means that if we are not forgiving others, then there is no evidence that we have been forgiven. Forgiven hearts are changed hearts. They ought to learn to forgive as they are forgiven.

Many years ago the puritan pastor, Thomas Watson wrote, “We need not climb up into heaven to see whether our sins are forgiven. Let us look into our hearts and see if we can forgive others. If we can, we need not doubt that God has forgiven us.”

David prayed that God would hide his face from his sins. We should also not hold wrongs against another person who shows true remorse. We forgive them and consider the debt to be removed.

In 1 Corinthians 13:5, Paul said that love “thinks no evil.” or as it is better translated, love “does not take into account a wrong suffered.” The Apostle was using an accounting term that describes the recording of figures in a book. Love does the opposite. It does not keep a record of wrongs. Instead, love forgives and refuses to keep it on the books.

A popular devotional book says, “If you want to remember something, you go over it again and again. The child reviews his spelling words; the actress rehearses her lines; you review people’s names that you want to remember. But love deliberately and consciously lets go of past hurts and gives them to God.”

The basis upon which we can so unselfishly set aside our own hurts and forgive others, is that we ourselves have had the corruption of our sins paid for by our Lord, and our bondage to self-interest removed. Having been forgiven in this way, we can rest assured we are cleansed and set free.

Hebrews 10:22, “let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”

(Note: The Bible quotations in this article are from the New King James Bible unless otherwise noted.)

Where Did That Come From?

When we do stupid or sinful things, and we begin to feel the guilt or suffer the consequences, we often look back on it and wonder, “Where did that come from?” “Why did I do that?”

Our fallen nature does not like to admit the truth of it, so it comes up with some very creative attempts to explain it away more acceptably.

One very popular excuse is the “blame the teacher” approach. Perhaps we do wrong things because we were taught to behave that way by our parents, school teachers, friends, and those nasty movies and television shows to which we were subjected. So it’s not our fault. We blame it on those who have influenced us.

Then there is the “blame laziness” approach. We say, “I’ll just have to try harder next time.” There is a little more personal responsibility in this explanation for our transgressions, but it also minimizes the seriousness of the matter. It is as if we are saying, “I am better than it appears. I just slacked off a bit. I just needed a little more effort is all.”

A nice dodge of accountability can be found in the “blame the circumstances” approach. This is where we convince ourselves we had no other choice but to do something technically wrong. Since God is sovereign over all his creation, it amounts to a “blame God” approach.

Another very creative set of excuses is found in the “It’s not really wrong” approach. Blame is placed upon the church, overly strict parents, or a society with unrealistic standards. It is very common and acceptable to the fallen heart to say we only seem to sin because the standards are unfairly set too high.

These tragic misunderstandings of where sin comes from leave us locked in its grip and discouraged. They never deal with the cause. They only attempt to cover up the problem, and explain away the consequences.

Rather than acting surprised or victimized when we do wrong, a better question to ask is, “Where does God say our sin comes from?”

King David had sinned horribly in his lust and adultery with Bathsheba. He made repeated efforts to cover it up, including risking Israel’s national security by having his troops pull back in battle to leave Bathsheba’s faithful husband to be killed. David paid a heavy price for that one night of sin.

When God’s prophet confronted him with it, we see how a true believer responds to his sin. David admitted that what he did was wrong. He grieved and humbly repented before God. He did not make excuses or put on a display of sorrow to win the sympathy of the people. His heart was broken. He repented, and wrote this moving Psalm from which we all can learn.

We have already studied the first four verses.

Psalm 51:1-4
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.
1 Have mercy upon me, O God, According to Your lovingkindness; According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, Blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I acknowledge my transgressions, And my sin is always before me.
4 Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight — That You may be found just when You speak, And blameless when You judge.

Then David continued by owning up to the real source of his sin.

Psalm 51:5, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.”

When a verse begins with the word “behold” we know we are about to look at something important. He was not telling God to behold something his all-knowing Lord had not noticed. He was humbly saying to God that he was no longer going to try to hide the depth of his own depravity.

The poet Robert Burns around the end of the 18th century was in church when he noticed a bug crawling on the bonnet of a well dressed lady in front of him. He wrote his famous poem To a Louse. It was about how differently we might come across to others while thinking we look quite impressive. In old English he wrote: “Oh wad some power the giftie gie us; To see oursels as ithers see us!” Today we would approximately translate it, “Oh would some power the gift he give us; To see ourselves as others see us!”

Here David sees a greater gift, to see ourselves as God sees us. David had seen the awful corruption of his own human nature. He knew that it had infected his heart from the moment he was conceived in his mother’s womb.

David admitted where his sin came from. God assigned Adam to represent all the humans who would naturally descend from him. When he sinned, guilt and moral corruption spread to everyone who would be ever born. The only exception is the birth of Jesus who was specially conceived by the Holy Spirit. We call this inherited condition original sin.

The Westminster Shorter Catechism summarizes this biblical fact in Question 16, “The covenant being made with Adam, not only for himself, but for his posterity; all mankind, descending from him by ordinary generation, sinned in him, and fell with him, in his first transgression.”

More simply, the old New England primer said, “In Adam’s fall, we sinned all.”

The Bible is clear about this. Paul summarized how we got to be sinners in his letters to the early churches. In Romans 5:12 he wrote, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men …” Then in 1 Corinthians 15:22 he explained, “For as in Adam all die …”

Our guilt and the corruption that moves us to sin are inherited. Sin is a congenital disease of the soul, and a universal infection of all souls. Psalm 58:3 says, “The wicked are estranged from the womb; They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies.”

By saying that he was a sinner from his conception, David was not excusing his sin as if he could not help it. David was confessing that he had done wrong because he was responsibly corrupt from the beginning and in need of a Savior.

Original sin leaves our souls morally inclined to displease God. We are born in sin. We all know that the fruit of a tree reveals its true nature. Apples being produced proves we have an apple tree. Sin being produced, proves that we have a corrupted heart.

Some are quick to say, “But, I’m a Christian! Isn’t that corruption taken away now?” It’s true that believers are forgiven for their sin because Jesus paid the penalty for it in their place. He clothes them with his own perfect righteousness by crediting it to those who have not deserved or earned it. He also renders them able to have truly God-honoring motives, and to be able to honor God both outwardly and inwardly, but always imperfectly in this earthly life. The infection of sin is not yet fully removed. Even redeemed hearts still sin. Only in our glorification after death is sin’s power eradicated from us. Until then we struggle as did King David when he wrote this Psalm.

We have conflicting moral desires. On the one hand we want to do good because of God’s love at work in us. But there is that not yet eradicated evil present within us too. We sometimes do what displeases our Savior. This reminds us that we are only sinners saved by Grace. This was Paul’s experience as he explained in Romans 7:23, “But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.”

David realized that his recent flood of sins exposed what had been there all along. It was only God’s merciful restraint that had sometimes put chains upon his depravity. God never withdraws our salvation, but he does at times leave us to ourselves to see what we would be without his constant provision.

In this life, there remains some corruption in our hearts no matter what we do. No one can perfectly remove all selfish motives and purely do all for God’s glory alone, or always keep from wavering in times of stress or temptation. So sometimes God lets us see those remains of sin at work in us.

One of the hardest things for parents to do is to let their children make their own mistakes. Certainly they never let them do dangerous or fatal things. However, there are times when they lovingly step back to let them learn the limits of what they can do. God as our loving Father sometimes lets us see how much we need to rely upon his grace.

When we discover the depth of sin in us, it drives home the truth that all the good we do is purely a result of his merciful work in our hearts. We learn that since sin is in us from birth, we cannot blame our circumstances, our upbringing, or our human choices. This also means that our victory over it does not come by the efforts of men. For God’s children it is more sure than that.

No one has a natural advantage or disadvantage before God. Those brought up in a godly surrounding are greatly blessed, but no less corrupt from birth. Those deprived of good surroundings, are no more depraved in their souls. Refinements do not make a Christian. If you refine a depraved sinner with all the culture and manners imaginable, all you end up with is a very cunning and skillful sinner who believes he doesn’t need a Savior.

Our depravity is not overcome by our efforts or refinement. It is conquered only by grace through God’s application of the work of Christ.

In that inner place where we have in-born sin,
God desires to insert his truth and wisdom.

Psalm 51:6, “Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.”

Again, here is something David calls God to behold. This time it is not the fact of his original sin that David so humbly holds up before God. Here it is God’s own holy expectation which is satisfied in us only by grace.

What God desires is what ought to be found in man’s innermost being. The place he speaks of here is where our desires and motives lie. God is not impressed merely with our outward show, or our words.

To Israel, David looked like a godly king all the while this cover-up was going on. But the king knew that what he appeared to be was not what he really was. We can often fool those around us for awhile, maybe for a long while. We may even fool ourselves for a time. In 1 Samuel 16:7 God warned Samuel not to look at a man’s appearance or stature, “… For the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”

That’s where the corruption lies, deep under the appearances we put up to make us look good. It is the heart that is corrupt, and that continues to tempt us even as believers. While we remain imperfect in this life we are potential sinners even as David was. James 4:1 asks, “Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members?” The desires deep inside us are what cause the moral conflicts that often snare us and hurts others.

David shows us an important contrast in these two verses. First he confesses the problem of his inherited iniquity and sin. Then he turns the spotlight to what ought to be there in its place, God’s desire for truth in our hearts. He does not want to find imaginings or false beliefs there.

We need to have in our hearts an awareness of our real inner nature. If we do not admit that we need a Savior, we are lost in hopelessness. Even as believers we need to admit our need to continually rely upon God’s grace. Otherwise we are living a lie.

Truth is that which agrees with what God knows. For us, it is that which conforms with what has been revealed to us by our Eternal Lord. We need to replace the lies with honesty. If we hope in fantasies about our moral nature, or rely upon mere wishes of what we would like to be true, we will never find real solutions. If we look to our own imagined abilities to overcome our problems, we will never discover God’s love, mercy, forgiveness, and deliverance in Christ.

Next David pleads with God that he would come to have wisdom. He does not mean that he wants his IQ to increase, or to improve his memory. He does not mean he wants a more analytical mind or a more creative genius. The wisdom he means here is of the heart, not of just the head. One ancient writer spoke of a “full head and an empty heart.”

David wanted God to improve his ability to accept the truth and to follow after the right path. On that night of temptation he thought that a moment of sin with the beautiful Bathsheba would give him a good moment of pleasure. Godly wisdom would have judged that there is no real pleasure in things that displease God.

Moses showed this wisdom when he sided with the calling of God in Hebrews 11:24-25, “By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin,”

Wisdom is found in those desires which conform to what God says is true and good. God does not want outward show. He wants inward truth, holiness, and devotion to moral purity. So we must have our hearts united with Christ if our outward behavior is to be enabled to truly honor God. When obedience is externalized the most we can hope for is to put on a good act.

Because of the inner origin of sin, an inner cure is needed. God wants truth and wisdom in there where sin tries to dominate our lives from birth. Though in Adam we were created in holiness, ever since his fall humans are conceived as sinful beings. We must be redeemed to inward holiness if we are to enjoy God’s blessings in this life and forever.

Our fallen nature’s answer is like the plan of a cheap handy-man. When the wood of a wall or fence is rotten and brittle, it can sometimes be covered over with heavy coats of paint. Though that might make it look acceptable or even beautiful from the outside, the fence or wall is rotten at its very core and will not hold up when it is stressed.

In the same way we can often put on good outward behavior, even religious behavior, while inwardly the heart is deceptive and self-centered. There can be no hope or confidence before God until there is a changed heart. This transformation by grace will show itself in humble confession and repentance and by seeking God’s provision in Christ.

There is an important and encouraging message for us in this Psalm. Though the setting is one of tragic sin and its discovery, David points us to the wonderful cure.

Before we get to the remedy, we need to realize that there can never be real spiritual progress or confident inward assurance until we are brought to see the real problem. By understanding the source and nature of our inward corruption we can begin to deal with it at the source. A polluted stream cannot be cleaned up if the source of pollution is not stopped.

Our own behavior and that of those around us can be confusing and discouraging. We do things we know are neither wise nor moral, and when the fleeting moment of imagined pleasure is gone we ask ourselves, “Where did that come from?” “Why did I do such a stupid thing?” When our eyes are opened to see where sin originates in us we can finally understand the moral struggles we face daily without searching for foolish excuses.

When we understand the impossibility of moral progress on our own, we can begin to understand the amazing work of grace in our lives. We can also have hope for those around us who seem irretrievably lost. The most evil people on earth can be transformed by the work of our Redeemer. Believers who fall deeply into sin as did King David, can also discover a sense of complete forgiveness when the appreciate what our Savior accomplished on the Cross of Calvary.

We learn from this Psalm to own up to our sin, then to deal with it effectively by coming to the Lord, our only hope for restoration, forgiveness, and the promise of victory.

John Calvin began his Institutes of the Christian Religion with these words, ” … We are accordingly urged by our own evil things to consider the good things of God; and, indeed, we cannot aspire to Him in earnest until we have begun to be displeased with ourselves. For what man is not disposed to rest in himself? Who, in fact, does not thus rest, so long as he is unknown to himself; that is, so long as he is contented with his own endowments, and unconscious or unmindful of his misery? Every person, therefore, on coming to the knowledge of himself, is not only urged to seek God, but is also led as by the hand to find him. On the other hand, it is evident that man never attains to a true self-knowledge until he has previously contemplated the face of God, and come down after such contemplation to look into himself. For (such is our innate pride) we always seem to ourselves just, and upright, and wise, and holy, until we are convinced, by clear evidence, of our injustice, vileness, folly, and impurity. Convinced, however, we are not, if we look to ourselves only, and not to the Lord also —He being the only standard by the application of which this conviction can be produced. …” (Institutes 1:1:1-2)

Paul wrote in Romans 6:17-18, “But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.”

(Note: The Bible quotations in this article are from the New King James Bible unless otherwise noted.)

The Target of Sin

When I was about 13 or 14 I took my first archery lessons. It took quite a few arrows before the first one got stuck in the target. The first few didn’t even make it all the way to the hay bale where the target was mounted. I put a lot of holes in the ground. The target was the safest place on the whole archery range.

In the Old Testament, the primary Hebrew word we translate as “sin” is khata’ (חטא). It literally means to miss the target. It is used in that original way in Judges 20:16, “Among all this people were seven hundred select men who were left-handed; every one could sling a stone at a hair’s breadth and not miss.” There the word “miss” is this same word used in other places for “sin”.

When we sin, we are missing the moral target God sets for us. This is exactly how sin is defined in the Bible. The King James Version of 1 John 3:4 says, “… sin is the transgression of the law.” The ESV has, “… sin is lawlessness.” It is when we fail to conform to the ways God has revealed as being right and good.

One way people often try to soften the ugliness of their sin, is to change the target. If sticking arrows in the grass was the goal of archery I would have been a gold-medalist right away! But if the target was that round dot surrounded by circles, I sinned a lot — I missed the mark.

If our moral target is to feel good about ourselves, or not to do great physical harm to others, we might convince ourselves we are pretty good. But if the standard is the high and perfect moral principles God tells us about in his word, then we discover, as did King David, that we all have sinned grievously.

In Psalm 51 David cried out for God’s grace. The sins he had committed in connection with his involvement with Bathsheba had just been exposed by the Prophet Nathan. The Psalm begins with these words in the first three verses.

Psalm 51:1-3, “Have mercy upon me, O God, According to Your lovingkindness; According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, Blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, And my sin is always before me.”

In Romans 3:23 The Apostle Paul wrote, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” We come short of the target, the target God sets. We do not get to pick the target. David, Paul, and the other writers of the Bible were well aware of the mark we are to hit, and of how impossible it is for any of us to even come close, aside from the amazing work of God’s grace that transforms our unworthy hearts.

As Psalm 51 continues David admits that at its root,
his sin is a crime against God.

Psalm 51:4, “Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight — That You may be found just when You speak, And blameless when You judge.”

In fallen man’s attempt to redefine the target, he has invented the “victimless crime”. Some sins are excused simply by asking, “What harm does it do?” What they mean is, if something does not cause direct harm to another person, then it is morally OK. They excuse it as a private matter that is not very important.

Several years ago I read the party platform for a political group that was promoting the repeal of all laws it classified as “victimless crimes”. It did not leave it to the imagination to guess what this group believed those crimes include. The platform specifically demanded the repeal of several existing laws.

They wanted to repeal all laws restricting the sale and use of drugs of any kind, all laws relating to sexual relations such as prostitution and solicitation, all laws that allow homosexual acts and unions not to be fully accepted by everyone, all laws limiting the sale, use and production of sexually explicit material, and all laws interfering with the right to commit suicide, which it said is our ultimate right.

David Euchner is a doctoral candidate and teacher at Rutgers School of Law. He lists examples of what he says are victimless crimes, “… prostitution, the use and distribution of illicit drugs, gambling, obscenity and pornography.” Then he says, “Every participant in these illegal activities is willing and consensual, and therefore no participant is a victim of a crime nor a perpetrator of a crime against another.”

He argues that these are victimless activities and cause no detriment to society. He insists that an individual’s wishes or rights are the only proper basis upon which we should determine what should be considered to be criminal. He goes on to reject any religious moral standards by saying that, “Faith amounts to nothing more than a renunciation of reason and logic. … Faith will allow an otherwise rational person to accept contradictions in the universe.”

He obviously has not considered the actual biblical definition of faith, or of its moral standards. We easily recognize the man of straw constructed by his presumptions, a target constructed out of imagined logical errors, but nothing resembling the real set of beliefs he says he is opposing. Biblical faith is neither an irrational act nor an escape from reason. Biblical faith will not accept contradictions in the universe. It seeks to know God’s creation as it really is, not as each individual would like it to be to relieve his awareness of responsibility and guilt.

Faith is an implanted firm confidence which God gives to those for whom Christ died. That implanted ability enables the persons to trust the direct teachings of God in Scripture.

The victimless crime is a modern myth. It implies that these things which are offensive to God ought not to be considered wrong. What King David learned, and what every sinner should understand, is that someone other than the perpetrator and a human victim is always involved. God is offended. He, the Creator, is the center and definition of morality. Every sin, private or public, is an offense against him. Though no one else is directly harmed, even when no one else knows about it, that which defies God’s moral principles is still wrong.

David understood the central target of his sin — it was against God only. As we just read in 1 John 3:4, sin is the violation of God’s law. According to the Creator Himself, anything that violates his eternal moral principles is wrong and offensive. It brings guilt upon the offender, whether it is known by others, or directly hurts others, or not.

God’s moral principles lie at the root of every good law in civilized society. The sin of murder is not fundamentally wrong just because it hurts another person. It is wrong because every human life bears the image of God, and is to be respected from conception. If murder is only wrong because of an accepted technical definition, or is justified because we imagine it is kept painless to the individual killed, or because it might actually minimize hardships in the long run, then abortion and suicide are removed from the list of wrongs. That is exactly what our secular society does once God’s moral standards are taken out of the picture.

Stealing is not a sin just because of its inconvenience to another person or society. It is wrong because it defies God’s distribution of ownership and stewardship. If stealing is justified when it does no serious outward harm to society or to others, then we allow many thieves to be set free with insignificant penalties if they are punished at all. An oppressive government taking what we earn in the form of unjustified and intrusive taxes to redistribute our wealth becomes acceptable.

Sexual sins are not wrong because of their harm to some culturally defined sense of decency. They are wrong because they defy the command of God concerning the sexes. Marriage is the only moral place for sex since it is ordained to represent Christ’s relationship with his church. If sex is simply for pleasure or for personal satisfaction, then extramarital sex, and divorce for personal reasons, become acceptable. Pornography becomes an acceptable business for consenting adults. Pornographers are then held only to cultural standards, such as not aiming at minors as part of their consumer target. It becomes a first amendment right to promote bestiality, child sex, and erotic pictures displayed publicly.

We could say similar things concerning all moral principles. It is not just civil crimes that land us in jail that are offensive to our Father in heaven. What offends him includes many more behaviors and attitudes. The list that follows is a very small set of examples of non-criminal offenses which miss the mark God sets for us morally.

lies said to promote ourselves, lies no one ever detects or suspects

apathy about our neighbors, and brothers and sisters in the Lord

inward anger when we are challenged

pride when we see others struggle with sin or fall from spiritual weakness

silence when we are brought into the lives of those in need of the gospel

covetousness in our heart when God’s plan is not what we think it ought to be

We could add many more things to that list. It would include all we do that is contrary to or neglectful of God’s revealed ways and principles. That is what makes it so wrong. Sin is defined as missing the moral target revealed to us by our Creator. It undermines and offends the glory of God, and it builds up a heavy weight in our conscience.

David adds that he had done what is evil in God’s sight.

There are two biblical truths that come to mind in this confession:

The first is that evil is what God sees it to be. It is not just what people or scholars think it should be. This parallels what David had just said in the first part of this verse.

There is another lesson in these word too. All our evil is done before the watching eyes of God himself. Nothing goes unnoticed.

Did David really think that his sin with Bathsheba, the deceit, and the plotting to murder, had all gone unseen? The fact of the ever-seeing eyes of God was something David had learned already in his life. When he sinned, had he forgotten this fundamental truth? or did he just put it out of his mind? or did he think God would “understand” his need to violate clearly revealed moral law?

When we consider the all-seeing eye of God, every sin is clearly irrational. There is no good explanation except to admit that every heart, redeemed ones too, are still imperfect in this life and tend toward excusing sin for a season. When we consider the evil we do, what an impudent affront it is, to break the law right in the face of the lawmaker who is also our loving Savior.

Children have been known to stretch the rules of their family a bit when they know their parents aren’t around or are not paying attention. They might eat more of the things on the limited eating list, watch TV shows that are a bit less wholesome than the usual family viewing, stay up a little later than they are supposed to, and maybe socialize over the phone a little more than is allowed.

Adults might also try to get away with some questionable behaviors. They might at times drive less lawfully when no one is around to see them. They might show less patience in line at the grocery store than when a fellow church member is waiting in line behind them, or when the cashier is a good family friend.

Do we stop to think when we sin, when we make excuses, when we neglect what we know what we ought to be doing, that we are as clearly seen by God at those times as when we assemble together for worship on the Lord’s Day?

God is always present and aware of our doings and thoughts. It is not the harm done to others, or the immediate damage to society that determines morality. It is the offense to God that makes something wrong. It is the violation of his eternal moral principles.

David then turns to the fact of God’s justice.

Psalm 51:4b, “… That You may be found just when You speak, And blameless when You judge.”

When God speaks to us in judgment, we of ourselves have no defense. God has every right as Creator to demand perfect, personal, and perpetual obedience. His creatures were made to be held to the moral principles he revealed. Judgment is more than a divine right. It is a divine necessity. To allow sin to go unpunished would contradict the nature of God. The fact of his justice, demands that the penalty of sin be paid in full.

What a wonderful gospel we have! It explains how God, as Savior, experienced death in place of his people satisfying the high demands of their infinite offense. Justice is met, while at the same time guilty sinners become the loved children of God, clothed in a righteousness that is not their own, but is the merit of their Redeemer, Jesus Christ. As loved children, their offenses bring them humbly to the throne of grace. As David discovered, God is not only ever present as judge, as one we must obey, he is also ever present with his children to forgive them and to deliver them from sin.

In Psalm 139:3 David wrote, “You comprehend my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways.” Then in verses 7-10 he asked, “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, Even there Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me.”

Psalm 51 was not written for those who believe they never sin. It was recorded for us who know we offend our marvelous Creator, and who need to deal with our guilt in the only right way; by humble and honest confession, and by a trusting appeal to the completed work of Jesus Christ who represented us on the cruel Cross of Calvary.

(Note: The Bible quotations in this article are from the New King James Bible unless otherwise noted.)

A Stubborn Stain

When I taught chemistry I made it a habit to wear a lab coat. It was not just to look scientific. It served a very important purpose. Some of the materials we used were highly corrosive, and would hopelessly stain my clothes, even from a very small spilled drop or grain. As careful as I might be, it was not a chance I could afford to take. And with a classroom full of students there were always spills.

After a few years of use my lab coat was spotted and streaked here and there with stains. The stains were not superficial. Even after a good washing they would still be there. They effected the color and integrity of the fabric itself. To remove them would be to destroy the coat. It proved that I really did need the protection so that my nice clothes would survive. The coat took the stains.

The stains of sin on our soul are infinitely more stubborn and corrosive. No human effort can even lessen the stains, they are so much a part of the fabric of what we are. Our efforts to fix the problem in our own way actually make the stain worse.

In Psalm 51 David uses the imagery of
a stained garment to describe his sin.

King David had sinned with Bathsheba, then tried to cover it up by using deceit and violence. He even put Israel’s national security at risk to have her husband killed in battle. At God’s direction, the prophet Nathan confronted the King with his sins. David’s sorrow and repentance produced this Psalm. He began with this plea for mercy:

Psalm 51:1, “Have mercy upon me, O God, According to Your lovingkindness; According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, Blot out my transgressions.”

David offered no defense, no excuse. He knew the only relief for what he had done, was the grace of God, forgiveness from the very God he had offended.

So he began by pleading for grace, the unmerited mercy of God toward him as an unworthy sinner. Admitting he had no defense against the indictment, he asked that the charge would be blotted out. He begged that the words against him would be dissolved away from the legal parchments. Only the payment of his debt by God, the very one he had offended, could discharge his guilt and offense.

Then David continued his plea that God
would remove his guilt by grace.

David had come to understand that the stain of his sin was deep and needed a thorough and intrusive washing. The word for “thoroughly” in our versions translates a form of the Hebrew word rabah (רבה). It means to be or to become great, many, or much. In this form and when used with an active verb it means to do something repeatedly. Calvin explained saying, “he felt the stain of his sin to be deep, and to require multiplied washings.” David was emphasizing how seriously intrusive his sin was.

Unlike the typical response when someone is accused of something, David was not just concerned that his reputation would be protected. He did not try to cast his sin in politically correct terms, or attempt to minimize the guilt sin brings. He admitted the stain on his soul. It was not the fear of punishment that powered his grief. He was horrified by the offense of his sin in the eyes of God. He admitted a side of his character no one likes to see. He knew that from God’s perspective, what he had done was like an ugly and stubborn stain.

I remember a young lady in one of the Jr. High lab classes I taught who accidentally spilled a very diluted beaker of Hydrochloric Acid on her leg. It was not strong enough to hurt her skin, but it started to melt her nylon pantyhose. She looked down at the strings dangling and thought her skin was dissolving off. There was panic and screaming, then a race to the sink to wash off the spill. The terrified girl put her foot up in the lab sink and started calling for help. I ran in as quickly as I could to see what was going on. There she was, frantically splashing water on her leg. She was relieved and a little embarrassed to discover it was just the remains of her nylons.

Contrary to lab rules, this student had set the beaker at the edge of the lab table, then became distracted talking to a friend. She evidently bumped the acid container causing it to spill. Could she have denied that she had been careless? Not much chance of that. The effect of the acid was beyond denial. The evidence was there.

The same is true of the stains on our souls as seen by God. We might lie to others and deny our sins. We may even try to deceive ourselves, but God sees the tell-tale stains.

David knew the stain of his sins was clearly seen by God. Nathan had been sent to confront him with it. The Holy Spirit stirred the King’s soul to respond humbly to the Prophet. He knew he needed to admit his transgressions, and to beg to be washed clean. And he knew that the telling stain was an ugly blemish that deeply offended his Holy Lord.

Calvin said sin is like … “filth or uncleanness as it pollutes us, and makes us loathsome in the sight of God”

The words “wash me” and “cleanse me” follow a typical style of Hebrew poetry. It Repeats something in different words to expand upon it and to emphasize it.

The first term “wash” translates the Hebrew word cavas (כבס). It was a word particularly used for the washing of garments. Several commentators identify this with a process of preparing a fabric for use. The whole process was called fulling. A fuller was a worker who soaked and washed newly made cloth. He would sometimes work at it with brushes or mallets, then dry it out. This was done so that the individual fibers that made up the cloth would expand and fill in the gaps between them. It gave a fullness to the freshly cleaned material.

The second term “cleanse” is the Hebrew word tahaer (טהר). It meant to brighten something, making it white, or clean like new. It was often used for ceremonial purifications. It is the word used in Scripture for the priestly cleansing of a person healed from having leprosy. David wanted his soul to be washed from its stain, to look fresh and new again.

Oh, if we could only turn back the clock to avoid the sins that brought about so much pain and guilt. The hurt often extends to those we love, to others effected by our transgressions. The most horrible part of every sin is the offense it brings against the God who made us.

But it’s a futile wish. There is no “do over” option. No one can turn back clocks. Nothing we do can remove the stain of sin on a soul. Only the hand of the Creator as Redeemer can take away the tell-tale and offensive marks. Only by the washing of the blood of the Savior can our sin blemished souls be made fresh and new again. The stains are not simply covered over or ignored. The debt demanded by our sins must be paid in full to preserve the principle of justice.

David knew he could not remove the consequences of his sin on his own. No human apology or personal sorrow could ever remove guilt. He knew that until God removed it by his work of grace, the stain would remain.

David continued his plea with words of confession.

David uses the plural here for his transgressions and sins. He is not just admitting to one particular discovered offense, or to some vague wrong doing. He sees a deeper moral pollution. He could not get this pervasive principle in his life out of his mind. It haunted him when he saw it for what it was. We can have no real inner rest and peace until our sin and guilt is removed. Along the way to this victory, the Holy Spirit first leads us to awareness of our sinfulness and the guilt it leaves behind.

At its root, confession is admitting to something. It literally means “to say along with”, therefore it is “to agree with what someone else is saying.” In the New Testament verses we usually quote when speaking of confession (such as 1 John 1:9 “if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins …”) the Greek word homologeo (ὁμολογεω) is used. This compound word literally means “saying the same”. When we confess our sins to God we are agreeing with him, saying the same things he would about our transgressions. There is no denial or deception.

We need to have God examine our hearts. Then we need take an honest look at what he shows us is lingering there. It is easy for us to call our wealth our own, our efforts our own, our skills our own. However, we often speak of sin as if it was something that victimizes us. But David owns his sin. He says I .. my .. my .. me. Here there is personal accountability.

God was maturing David. He had been brought to where he cried out to God in desperation. Before he could become greater in the Heavenly Kingdom, he had to know how little he was in any kingdom. This would be a hard lesson for a mighty earthly king. The weight of the Holy Spirit’s conviction pressed down upon King David’s heart. He could not escape its inward torture.

Who are the ones who are properly reconciled and made right with God? Calvin wisely says, “they are such as have had their consciences wounded with a sense of sin, and who can find no rest until they have obtained assurance of his mercy.” It is the awareness of the depth of our sin that drives us to God all the more passionately.

Knowing the root cause is vital to properly dealing with any problem.

I had repeated ear problems when I was very little. There were many nights when I would lay awake in pain. We made countless trips to ear specialists who were not able to fix the problem. It even ended up rupturing my ear drum. The problem at the root of it all was not my ears. Our doctor finally made the connection with inflamed and enlarged tonsils. They were blocking the Eustachian tube causing pressure to build up in the middle ear. Once the infected tonsils were removed I never had ear problems again. The problem was that we were looking at where the pain was instead of finding what was causing the pain. If we only treat the feelings or symptoms, we will never get rid of the cause.

The same problem can distract us from dealing with our moral and spiritual problems. Why do some struggle inwardly and feel no real satisfaction in their blessings? Perhaps it’s partly because they have not yet seen the depth of their sin and come broken to the Savior. Perhaps they have not yet come to appreciate the wonder and importance of God’s grace.

Conscience is a harsh tormentor, but God put it there to serve a good purpose. Sadly, people under conviction of sin often fail to discover, and deal with the root problem. They try to deaden the conscience by removing the feelings of guilt. The symptoms that bother us are the focus, rather than dealing with the cause of the feelings.

The modern treatment comes in a variety of ways. Doctors prescribe drugs to cover up the feelings, or therapists try to disarm the conscience morally. They tell us our sin is either not so bad, or that it is someone else’s fault. They enable us to blame our parents for not being caring enough, or our church for setting too high a standard, or others for expecting too much of us.

But God tells us that our conscience is a symptom warning us of a serious problem. Sometimes it is because we have neglected our duties. Sometimes we have excused our sins. Some may not yet have learned the relief of true divine forgiveness in Christ. As long as such things are not dealt with in God’s way, the weight of conscience presses down on the soul.

Conviction of sin is there to drive the child of God to his Father’s grace. It fills him with the detesting of sin as preparation for the wonderful healing of the soul.

What detergents do people use to try to remove the stains of sin?

We live in an age of savvy advertising and slickly worded commercials. Competing brands of laundry detergents and stain removers claim superiority over one another. We have learned that not all of them really do the job as well as they claim.

There are so many false claims about how to make our souls right with God too. We get the idea that removing the problem of sin comes in many ways, different brands. There is a whole array of soul cleaning products on the market that appeal to our fallen hearts. But they are the slick lies of Satan. They hide the stain from us, but do not remove its offensiveness from the eyes of our Lord.

One popular suggestion is to just let time go by. Some say we should just put it out of our minds. They say, “Time heals all wounds.” But when we have a bad stain deep in the fabric of our clothes, will it fade away with time? What if you took stained clothes to a laundry or dry cleaner, and the clerk said, “live with it … eventually it will blend in with the rest of the fabric. Just ignore it.” I suspect you would go find another cleaning service.

Joseph’s brothers tried this remedy for the stain of sin. It did not work. They jealously sold Joseph to traders and lied to their father saying that the brother had been killed by an animal. The guilt of their sin and deception continued to eat at them long after the event. Many years later in Genesis 42:21 they confessed, “We are truly guilty concerning our brother, for we saw the anguish of his soul when he pleaded with us, and we would not hear; therefore this distress has come upon us.”

Time heals nothing. One of the Watergate conspirators said that “time does not heal all wounds, time wounds all heels”. If sin is left alone, the stain sets deeper and the guilt working in us worsens. If it seems to fade with time it most likely is that it has diminished our sensitivity to moral evil.

Another common belief is that doing good works will remove the stain of sin. Of course its always good to do good. It’s always our duty. But you cannot erase existing guilt by the rest of the time not being guilty. The idea that good deeds balance out evil deeds is Satan’s masterpiece of deception. False religion is based upon that deadly idea.

No criminal is set free and his record expunged just because he did some good deeds to counter the bad ones. A mass murderer may have only spent a few days of his life killing people. But what defense would it be if he simply told the judge that “the rest of the time in his life he never killed anybody”? Or that when he realized what he did, he gave a lot to charity, or started to volunteer his time in a home for the elderly?

How can we imagine that if we have offended God so infinitely, that doing the good we ought to be doing anyway should excuse us from God’s Justice?

Besides, our works in themselves are not good at all when not done for the glory of Christ. Paul said in Romans 14:23, “… whatever is not from faith is sin.”

The Prophet Isaiah said in Isaiah 64:6, “… all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags…” Even our best works are imperfect because of the mixed motives that drive us inwardly. Scripture tells us that if we think we deserve forgiveness or can earn redemption by doing good works, we actually become all the more repulsive to God. If we think that by our own deeds we can earn what only the death of Christ could accomplish, our deeds condemn us for such arrogance.

God’s word describes the relationship between good works and forgiveness differently. Philippians 2:13 says, “for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.”

So the good works men falsely depend upon, are not the cause of grace. They are the result of it. Without grace being evidenced by humble confession and trust in Christ, what we claim as good works are an abomination, just as the Prophet Isaiah told us. Trying to keep the moral law is a good occupation, but it cannot cleanse us from past sin.

Some try to hide the stains by dressing them up. Sin is re-defined. What God says is wrong, becomes culturally acceptable and cool. People wear the stains proudly as if the they are evidence that they are not just kids anymore, as if they prove they are keeping up with the times. They turn the moral tables around, and call us bigots if we believe in God’s moral standards.

But Isaiah long ago said in Isaiah 5:20, “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!”

Calling sin something else will not transform it into something good. Dressing up the stains may make our sin seem attractive to others who love their own fallen ways, but they continue to be an offense against God. The stain only deepens.

There is only one way moral stains can be washed away.

The only true agent of moral cleansing is the work of the Savior. Isaiah 53:4-6 predicted his work, “Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”

Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:21 tells how Jesus Christ fulfilled those words, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

The cleansing work of Christ is applied to the heart by grace. This work is evidenced by true repentance and the confession of faith. 1 John 1:9 tells us, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

We need to confess sin for what it is, for the impossibility of removing it by anything we do, and to confess Christ as our only hope of forgiveness.

When there is no interest to stop sinning, and no desire to live humbly before God, then evidence is lacking that grace is at work in the person’s life. However, we are not told to wait around for grace to strike us. You will only know it is there when you are humbly obeying the gospel call. God commands that we get about the work of confession and faith in Christ, that we do it immediately, and continuously.

The cross cleanses because there the Savior took the stains upon himself for his people. True biblical faith is the absolute trust that the Messiah alone removes sin and its ugly blemishes. It continues to bring the believer under conviction when he sins, and drives him to the cross for restoration.

So , how do you deal with the stains that accumulate from your daily sins? Might it be that much depression and despair in life is really the pain of conscience? When you feel that persisting guilt, when the weight of your sin discourages you, do not run to the shelf of human inventions and false remedies. They only appear to remove the stains by dulling your awareness of them. Meanwhile the disease of moral corruption continues on.

Do as David did, as he said in this Psalm. Admit your transgressions and how they haunt your soul. Call out to God to wash you thoroughly from your iniquity, to cleanse you from your sin. Come to the Savior. Though you are but once regenerated and declared holy by the merits of Christ, you will still sin in this earthly part of your life. Our Lord calls you to come again and again, as often as you need, to the assurance of the cleansing secured by our Savior on Calvary. Be washed and made new again. Know you are forgiven and set free!

(Note: The Bible quotations in this article are from the New King James Bible unless otherwise noted.)

The Plea of a Humbled King

There is no one in all the natural descendents of Adam who can claim that he never does anything wrong. Only the irrationally self-deceived would argue against that fact. God’s word calls us to be humbly honest. We need to admit when we violate the moral principles our Creator built into the world when he made it. In the mid 17th century, Bible Scholars gathered at Westminster brought together the teachings of Scripture to define sin as, “any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God.” (Shorter Catechism Question 14)

God’s word also calls us to deal with our sins in the right way. One of the great helps in remembering our right response to our moral failures is Psalm 51. Commentator William Plumer called this psalm, The Sinner’s Guide.

The Psalm title gives us the setting.

The Psalm titles appear in the oldest manuscripts which removes any reason to doubt that they are part of the inspired text. In the original Hebrew of this Pslam the title takes up the first 2 verses. Our English verse 1 is verse 3 in the Hebrew text. This title gives us background information to provide historical context.

Psalm 51:title, “To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.”

This Psalm was not only written for the benefit of King David, nor was it only designed for private meditation. It was for use in the public gathering of God’s people for worship. It was to be delivered to the person in charge of the music for worship in the Tabernacle. It is a song to teach us by this king’s amazing example how we too should deal with our sins. But the lesson has a tragic beginning.

2 Samuel 11 tells of David’s fall into the depths of sin. One night in the Spring while his armies were off in battle, King David watched from his palace roof as Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, was bathing herself. His physical desires for her were strong so he had her summoned to his palace. There, the king was intimate with her. In the days following she came to him and told him that she was pregnant with his child.

David had sinned horribly. His first response made it worse. He shamefully used his power as king to cover up his sin by deception and violence. To make Uriah think it was his own child, he called him home from battle to be with his wife. If he slept at home a few nights, perhaps he would think that Bathsheba’s baby was his. But Uriah was a very noble man. He would not sleep with his wife while his men were still out on the battlefield away from home.

In frustration David entertained Uriah and got him drunk with wine, thinking that then, with his judgment impaired, he would go home and sleep with his wife. But still Uriah didn’t spend the night with Bathsheba.
Desperate hearts do foolish and cruel things. So David sent Uriah back to battle with sealed orders from the King for Joab his commander. Joab was to place Uriah in the fiercest part of the battle and withdraw the troops leaving him to be killed. Perhaps with the husband out of the way no one would know that he hadn’t been with his wife. Joab obeyed the king and after the next great battle, Uriah was dead.

When the report came back, Bathsheba mourned her husband for a respectable time, then was taken as the wife of the King. In time a son was born to Bathsheba.

David might have thought he had gotten away with his wickedness. But God sees all our sins, even those we suspect are committed in secret. God sent the prophet Nathan to confront David with his sin. 2 Samuel 12 tells us how the prophet skillfully brought David to realize his offense.

2 Samuel 12:13-14, “So David said to Nathan, ‘I have sinned against the LORD.’ And Nathan said to David, ‘The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die. However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you shall surely die.’ “

It was upon this occasion that David wrote Psalm 51.

We learn that David, the slayer of Goliath, the great King of Israel, the author of many Psalms, was just a sinner saved by grace. If the great King David could fall so horribly, so could any of us.

We fail to live up to God’s holy standards every day. We may not daily commit capital crimes like adultery, and plotting a man’s death, but all our sins are offensive to God. We can look at people in the Bible like Judas or Jezebel and label them as exceptions. However, they are like us — descendants of Adam.

Sin is the universal trait of all of us. As Paul wrote in Romans 5:12, “… just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men … ”

The Bible tells us how depraved that makes our heart. Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?”

In Romans 3:10-12, Paul quotes from the Psalms saying, “As it is written: ‘There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.’ ”

Yes, as hard as it is to admit, people like us could do as wicked a thing as David did. If we don’t, it is because of God’s gracious work to restrain us from doing wrong. We give him all the glory for any good we may do or evil we pass up on doing. As Paul wrote in Philippians 2:13, “it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.”

James 1:17 reminds us, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.”

Who was Judas, Hitler, or Manson? Each was but a fallen sinner, not restrained in certain ways by God’s mercies. How immoral our lives would be if God did not hold back the flood of depravity in us. But he does!

If there is a moment of obedience in our lives, it should be a cause for humble thankfulness to God who holds back our sin. When we falter and sin we should be humbled to see the depravity that lurks within, and we should be quick to come in repentance, trusting in the Savior to forgive and to restore.

But what should we do when we fall into sin?

David’s example offers help for each one of us. He cried out to God for mercy.

Psalm 51:1, “Have mercy upon me, O God, According to Your lovingkindness; According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, Blot out my transgressions.”

There was no defense, no excuse. He made no attempt to come up with a list of special circumstances. He didn’t whine about hard it was being king. He didn’t try to minimize what he had done by reminding God that everybody sins.

David knew there was only one relief for what he had done — the grace of the God he had offended. So he pleaded that his Heavenly King would be gracious to him.

David knew better than to ask for fairness or justice. That would mean eternal torments and separation from God. Only the arrogant fool demands from God what he deserves. Instead, David called upon that Sovereign kindness that met the demands of justice for him. That was not something any man could earn. It was available only as an undeserved kindness. That grace accords with two things

1. It comes to us because of God’s lovingkindness.
Lovingkindness is a compound English word, a kindness moved by love. The form has fallen out of many of our modern dictionaries. It was used to translate the original Hebrew word khesed (חסד) which means “mercy” or “grace”. It is the unearned favor which God shows toward us when we are forgiven.

2. And that grace is founded upon God’s great compassion.
We may have compassion upon those who suffer from hunger, disease, and oppression. But the compassion David mentions here is so great that it reaches out to the unworthy, to those who break the law of the God himself.

It is not a compassion like we have toward hapless victims of tragedy. It extends to thieves who use God’s blessings for selfish purposes, who spend his tithe, who abuse their time and talents, who satisfy their desires by sexual sins and gluttony, who look with apathy toward learning his word, toward devotion in prayer, toward faithfulness in supporting worship, toward the needs of the saints. They treasure more their earthly security and luxury, than growing in spiritual maturity.

David disregarded God’s ordinance of marriage so he could have sex with a beautiful woman. He deceived and planned a massive cover-up to protect his reputation and popularity. He even plotted against a man’s life rather than confess his sin before God and man.

But God loved this David! He loved Peter, who denied him three times the night he was betrayed. This same unmerited grace is the only hope for each of us, though at times we are moral criminals against heaven itself.

Even our coming to him is an act of his own mercy toward the unworthy. Jesus made it clear that our first approach of faith is alien to our fallen hearts. Only when it is put there by God’s mercy will anyone turn to him.

Jesus said in John 6:44, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; …”

God loves no man because he repents. Man repents because he is loved by God. Paul’s words in Romans 2:4 make this very clear, “Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?” As the Apostle John said, in 1 John 4:19, “We love Him because He first loved us.”

David made his purpose very clear. He asked for mercy so that his transgressions would be blotted out

The language David uses here is that of a judicial indictment of a court. In ancient times indictments were often written with ink on parchments. Commentator Adam Clarke points out that David was asking that whatever fluids were needed would be used by God to dissolve away the ink representing the words of the judgment against him.

He did not mean that somehow God would forget this part of real history. An immutable and omniscient God cannot have things removed from his memory. David meant that the charge of guilt would be removed by powers beyond what human justice could imagine.

We now know so much more than David did about how God would accomplish this redemption. Abraham, Moses, and David only knew that somehow God would satisfy justice in their place. They had a general idea that the sacrifices foreshadowed a coming Savior hinted at way back in Genesis 3:15, but they didn’t have the details to piece it all together. Today we are privileged to know that Jesus accomplished this work by being born as a human. He lived with perfect innocense among us, yet he suffered and died as if he was a criminal on the cross. He represented his people as he lived a perfect life in their place. He also represented those same loved ones as he died in their place for their sins.

David begged for mercy knowing that justice is only met for sinners by God’s grace. It was that grace that sent the Savior to take our guilt and punishment upon himself. When we sin, we call upon that same grace knowing the source from which this goodness flows in abundance.

Christians are not those who never do wrong. But they desire to handle their wrongs rightly. David knew his sin was not excusable. Neither is ours. But in God’s mercy we have this Psalm to remind us how we ought to deal with our transgressions as did this great ancient king. So, how great is that lovingkindness and compassion of God? As Moses wrote in Lamentations 3:21-24, “This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope. Through the LORD’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. ‘The LORD is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘Therefore I hope in Him!’ ”

How do we know that he accepts our repentance and forgives us? He promised it in his word, and his word never fails. As Jesus said in John 6:37, “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.”

John later wrote in 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

When you sin later today, tomorrow, and throughout this week ahead (and if we are honest we admit that we each surely will) plead with God for his grace, for his lovingkindness and compassion. They will abound toward us when we do so because God has promise it. And remember as you cry out to him, that it is already his grace at work in your heart or you would not seek him at all.

Don’t let a moment pass where sin lingers without repentance. Come to the fount of every blessing.

(Note: The Bible quotations in this article are from the New King James Bible unless otherwise noted.)